Reindeer Food for Christmas Eve

I wasn’t planning on posting anything today, Kate and I are supposed to be on a blog-cation!  But I just finished making these and had to share.  See, the stomach flu attacked our house this week, right after it attacked our house last week.  So for almost 2 full weeks I’ve had at least one, and at times 4 people hurled over buckets in my family room.  Needless to say, it put a kink in my holiday baking plans and I feel bad that I didn’t get goodies to all of my friends!  But even the guilt isn’t enough to inspire me to slave in the kitchen on Christmas Eve, so I decided to scrap the last-minute baking and do a little craft for my boys to deliver to their buddies instead.  I know this is a popular idea, but I spotted it most recently on The TomKat Studio because of these cute tags you can download!

Basically you’re just putting random stuff in a little baggie and calling it Reindeer food, the poem on the bag is what I love (In case you’re on a screen where you can’t see the picture)

Sprinkle this reindeer food outside tonight,
The moonlight will make it sparkle bright.
As the reindeer fly and roam,
This will guide them to your home.

Since this was totally last minute, all I had was oats.  Next time I do it, I think I’ll add some sunflower seeds and maybe a few nuts, or use granola.  Or go with coarse sugar or colorful sprinkles like many of you readers suggested.  But hey, this was totally last minute so since reindeer are magical, I’m sure they don’t eat normal oats.  And as it says in the poem, the moonlight will make it *sparkle*.  So, as I saw lots of people on the internet doing, I added glitter.  In retrospect, I probably should have used something like sugar sprinkles so it’s more eco (and kid)-friendly.  Don’t call PETA.  And don’t lecture me 🙂

Just put your reindeer food in little baggies (a sandwich bag will do)  and punch a hole in the corner and tie on the tag, or do as I did here and punch two little holes and pull the ribbon through

then tie in the front

My boys love pretending to be the mail man and making deliveries so they’re going to be super excited to get to carry a basket and hand out these little magical favors. And even if you don’t make these to pass out to friends, I think it’s a super cute thing to just do at home with your kids.

Head on over to The Tomkat Studio to download the free tags!  Make sure to leave them a comment and say thanks- tell them OBB sent ya!

Oh ya, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

woman in denim shirt holding a salad bowl
Meet The Author

Sara Wells

Sara Wells co-founded Our Best Bites in 2008. She is the author of three Bestselling Cook Books, Best Bites: 150 Family Favorite RecipesSavoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites, and 400 Calories or Less from Our Best Bites. Sara’s work has been featured in many local and national news outlets and publications such as Parenting MagazineBetter Homes & GardensFine CookingThe Rachel Ray Show and the New York Times.

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Questions & Reviews

  1. This is a tradition at our house, but I love the idea of giving it as a gift! Thanks for the ideas and link to artwork 🙂

  2. Thanks for sharing this great idea. I was in need of a few last minute neighbor gifts.

  3. Growing up my sister and I would put a freshly baked loaf of bread on the back step for the reindeer to eat. Now that I'm older, I think this is an ingenious idea, as the loaf was always eating by something by morning.

  4. I have a few secrets that I'm keeping from PETA, myself.

    Love the idea and it's great for us last minute gals! Have a lovely Christmas 🙂

    Mariel

  5. ★Merry★* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
    •。★Christmas★ 。* 。
    ° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
    ˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~\。˚ ˚ ˛
    ˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ | 田田 |門| ˚From our home to yours!! May God Bless You and Your's in the coming New Year!

  6. My kids love doing this! I usually make up enough for my son to give out to his class. I use a coarse colored sugar but I love the idea of using jimmies!

    Merry Christmas!!!

  7. Oooh, good ideas kara and mary! Kara i thought the same thing about little kids tasting it, *especially* if i tell them they're not allowed to, lol

  8. So fun! We started doing this last year with glitter, and this year it was colored sugar- I gave each girl an old spice jar with a bit of sugar in it, and we put a drop or two of food coloring in and they shook it like mad, then dumped in some oats. They shake their jars a few times a day, they're pretty excited to dump them out tomorrow!!

  9. Will came home from school with this, except instead of sparkles, they had the colorful jimmy sprinkles. I thought it was a good replacement in case a small child found them (as would happen in my house, lol) and decided they wanted to see what it tasted like. 🙂