So here's a dumb question....
No. You just need to find a neighbor that has downloaded the update.
Forum Discussion
I think you can only drop gift bags into friends towns once they have downloaded the update. You can collect gift cards from friends who haven't updated. I believe this is how it works as I was wondering the same thing myself until I visited a friend who had updated. The gift bag icon appears in the top left corner, same as the gremlin icon from Halloween.
