Reindeer Food Recipe (with Reindeer Food Printable)

Spread this sparkly reindeer food with Christmas sprinkles on your lawn so that it’s the first house Santa and Rudolph spot! It’s a quick and easy kid friendly craft project with cute antlers, googly eyes, and red pom pom noses. With a free reindeer food printable included!

Why You’ll Love This Magic Reindeer Food Recipe

Reindeer food is a favorite Christmas tradition that is a quick, easy and fun activity!

• Great for Christmas: A festive filling and pipe cleaner antlers make this the perfect fun and easy Christmas project to celebrate your favorite holiday.
• Perfect party favor: Prepare a large bowl of reindeer food and set up a decorating station for guests. Everyone can take it home to sprinkle on their lawn for Christmas Eve!
• Child-friendly: Use super glue, instead of hot glue, for the eyes and nose to make this craft safe for kids to by themselves.
• Easy: If you can add ingredients to a bowl and stir, you can make reindeer food!

What Is Reindeer Food?

A classic Christmas tradition, Reindeer food is an easy craft that’s made for Christmas Eve. Children are told through the reindeer food poem to sprinkle it on their lawn to help guide Santa and the reindeer to their home.

The ingredients are a combination of cereal, oats, chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc. Some reindeer food recipes call for glitter and jingle bells for extra sparkle.

Reindeer Food Poem

Sprinkle on the lawn Christmas Eve night.
The moon will make it sparkle bright.
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam,
this will guide them to your home.

What You’ll Need

Use red, green, and gold sprinkles, glitter, and decorations to make this holiday craft extra festive! Scroll to the bottom of the post for exact ingredient amounts.

For the Reindeer Food

• Oats: They must be old-fashioned oats. Quick oats will sink into the grass and disappear.
• Sprinkles: Any sprinkles will do, but festive sparkly or colored sprinkles add a fun touch.
• Glitter: If your children are still young, use edible glitter in case they want to try a bite!
• Cellophane Bags: Use square treat bags or cone-shaped treat bags.

To Decorate

• Pipe Cleaners: Brown pipe cleaners are best to make them look like reindeer antlers.
• Googly Eyes: I prefer large googly eyes (these have self adhesive so no glue is needed).
• Pom Poms: I used sparkly red pom poms to make the perfect Rudolph nose, however brown or black also work.
• Hot Glue: You can use regular school glue or super glue if you have time let it dry.

How to Make Reindeer Food

Gather your ingredients and set them out in an assembly station before beginning this easy reindeer food recipe. Scroll to the recipe card below for detailed instructions.

• Combine: Add all the reindeer food ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
• Pack: Scoop the mixture into plastic bags, leaving a 2″ edge so that you can close the bags.
• Tie: Twist the pipe cleaners along the top of the filled bags to seal them shut.
• Decorate: Add the reindeer rood printable. Glue the googly eyes and pom pom nose to each bag. Set them aside until Christmas Eve!

Decorating Tips and Variations

Getting creative is easy, even with old socks for a re-usable craft.

• Attach The Printable: There are a few ways you can attach the reindeer printable tag. You can use a stapler or a hole punch and then guide the pipe cleaner through the hole.
• Jingle Bells: Add small jingle bells to the filling for a festive jingle. Avoid them if you’ve got pets who could eat them.
• Use Paint: Grab a paintbrush and acrylic paint to add smiles, hair, necklaces, etc on the reindeer. Let the paint set fully before filling the bags of reindeer food.
• Make Elves: Glue small Santa or elf hats to the pipe cleaners to swap the reindeers for Santa’s little helpers.
• Re-purpose Old Socks: Fill your old Christmas socks with reindeer food. The packets won’t be see-through but you can still decorate them as usual. Toss them out once you’re done or save them for next year.
• Push Pops: Fill the push pops with reindeer food according to package instructions and decorate as desired. Then the kids can explode them into the yard!

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