Wildlife-safe · free printable tags
Reindeer food
A bowl of oats for the reindeer on Christmas Eve, and breakfast for the birds the morning after.
Reindeer food is the handful of oats children put out on Christmas Eve, so Santa's reindeer can grab a snack on the way. Ours is oats and seeds in a bowl, never glitter, the way wildlife charities say to make it. Here's the recipe, our own poem, and bag toppers and tags with your child's name to print.
Five minutes, no glitter
Our reindeer food recipe
A lot of the shop-bought kind is full of glitter, and glitter is tiny bits of plastic. It can upset an animal's tummy, and it stays in the environment for a very long time. The RSPB and the RSPCA both say to skip it and use what's already in your cupboard, and that's all our recipe is.
You need
- 1 cup of rolled oatsporridge oats, about 80 g
- 2 tablespoons of shelled sunflower seedssunflower hearts
- 1 teaspoon of nyjer seedsif you have some, for tiny dark specks
- A little chopped apple or a few blueberriesif you like, for color
That makes one bowl, which is plenty for a whole sleigh team.
How to make it
- Tip the oats and seeds into a mixing bowl and let your child stir. Count the stirs out loud. Twenty is plenty.
- Spoon it into a little bag and fold a topper over the top. It keeps in the cupboard until Christmas Eve.
- On Christmas Eve, just before bed, pour it into a shallow bowl or a tray. Add the apple or blueberries now, so they're fresh.
- Set it on a step, a wall or a bird table, not on the lawn. In the morning, go and see who came.
Never in the bowl
- Glitter, even the edible kind
- Sequins
- Cake sprinkles
- Chocolate
- Raisins, sultanas, currants or grapes
We leave out peanuts too (in case of nut allergies at home) and chili (little hands, little eyes).
Where it goes: In a bowl or a tray on a step, a wall or a bird table. Keep it off the lawn, because loose food on the ground isn't safe for hedgehogs that wake up in winter.
Sources, checked 10 Oct 2026: RSPB, All that glitters is not gold for wildlife (archived); RSPCA reindeer food recipe (archived); RSPCA, Christmas dangers for pets; ASPCA, people foods to avoid feeding your pets.
A bowl full of oats with some seeds on the top
for eight hungry reindeer who need a quick stop.
No glitter, no sprinkles, just good, simple things
for hooves and for noses, for feathers and wings.
We set the bowl out on the step or the wall,
then hop into bed (and we WON'T peek at all).
Dancer eats dancing, so he's messy, it's true,
and the birds clean the bowl in the morning for you.
Read it aloud
Our reindeer food poem
Every bag of reindeer food deserves a poem, so we wrote our own. Read it on Christmas Eve as the bowl goes out. It's printed on the back of our bag toppers too, so it travels with the oats.
Dancer is in there because he's the reindeer from our own book. You can meet him on our page of Santa's reindeer names, where a grown-up can call him into your room in 3D, on a phone or tablet.
Made in your browser
Bag toppers and tags with your child's name
A bag of reindeer food is a sweet little present for friends and teachers, and it belongs in a Christmas Eve box too. The name you type here goes on every topper and tag.
Four toppers a page. Each one folds over the top of a little bag, with "Reindeer food, made by" and the name on the front and our poem on the back.
It never leaves your device: nothing you type is sent to us or anyone else.
To keep a PDF, choose “Save as PDF” in the print window. Small clear treat bags work best, about 4 inches (10 cm) wide. A stapler holds the topper on.
As it prints
Print · free, no sign-up
Free reindeer food printables
Four sheets, each in US Letter and A4: the recipe card for the fridge, the poem, the bag toppers and the tags. Print them in color to hand out straight away, or in black and white so your child can color them in before the bags go out. The toppers and tags leave a line for the name, if you'd rather write it by hand than use the maker above.
Reindeer food recipe card
The whole recipe on one page for the fridge: what goes in, how to mix it, where the bowl goes, and what never goes in it.
Ages 3 to 8 · 1 page · PDF
Our reindeer food poem
Eight lines to read aloud before the bowl goes out, with a reindeer peeking over the oats and a robin waiting for breakfast.
Ages 3 to 8 · 1 page · PDF
Bag toppers
Four toppers to fold over little bags, with "Reindeer food, made by" on the front and our poem on the back.
1 page · PDF
Reindeer food tags
Eight tags with a line for who made it, a reindeer in the corner and a reminder that it goes in a bowl, not on the ground.
1 page · PDF
Free for home and classroom use. To pass them on, please share the link to this page and not the file.
For the grown-ups
The other reindeer food: reindeer chow
Look up reindeer food and half the recipes are for people. Reindeer chow is cereal coated in melted chocolate and peanut butter, then shaken in powdered sugar. It's NOT for reindeer, and it's not for dogs either. Here's the plain version.
You need
- 9 cups (about 250 g) of crispy rice or corn cereal squares
- 1 cup (170 g) of chocolate chips
- ½ cup (130 g) of peanut butter
- ¼ cup (55 g) of butter
- 1½ cups (180 g) of powdered sugar (icing sugar)
- To finish, if you like: red and green candy-coated chocolates, or mini pretzels
How to make it
- Put the cereal in your biggest bowl.
- Melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter together, in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring each time, until smooth.
- Pour it over the cereal and fold gently until every piece is coated.
- Tip it into a big zip bag or a tub with a lid, add the powdered sugar and shake. This is the job the children will fight over.
- Spread it on a tray to set, then scatter the candies on top.
It's very sweet, so a small bowl goes a long way. Chocolate is toxic to dogs and cats, so keep the bowl up high. If anyone has a nut allergy, use sunflower seed butter in place of the peanut butter.
On chocolate and pets, checked 10 Oct 2026: ASPCA, people foods to avoid feeding your pets; RSPCA, Christmas dangers for pets.
Our own book
The Christmas Secret
A Christmas Eve picture book with a read-along · ages 3 to 7 · out on October 20
Reindeer food goes out on the very night The Christmas Secret takes place. In our story Santa goes by red hot-air balloon and leaves the sleigh at home, so we like to think his reindeer still trot round for a bowl of oats.
Such a sweet tune that the snowflakes seemed to turn into drops of sugar.
Questions
Grown-ups ask
What is reindeer food?
It's a little mix left out on Christmas Eve for Santa's reindeer to nibble as they pass. The reindeer part is make-believe, but the birds who find the bowl in the morning are real, so what goes in it matters. Ours is rolled oats, sunflower seeds and a pinch of nyjer seeds.
Is reindeer food safe for birds?
The oats and seeds kind is. Raw porridge oats, sunflower seeds and nyjer seeds are what the RSPB suggests, in a tray or a bowl, and birds eat all three anyway. Glitter has no place in it, and the RSPB says to skip edible glitter and cake sprinkles as well.
What can we use instead of glitter?
Nyjer seeds give you little black specks, and a few blueberries or some chopped apple add color, which is what the RSPB suggests. If your child really wants sparkle, put it on the outside of the bag. Our bag toppers can be colored in as brightly as they like.
When do you put reindeer food out?
Last thing on Christmas Eve, once everyone is in their pajamas. Keep it in its bowl and off the grass. Some hedgehogs wake up from hibernation in winter, and the RSPCA says loose food on the ground isn't safe for them.
What if we have a dog?
Leave out raisins, sultanas, currants and grapes, which can harm a dog's kidneys even in small amounts, and anything with chocolate. Then put the bowl somewhere your dog can't reach. If you'd rather not put food out at all, a carrot on Santa's plate does the job just as well, and the RSPCA says dogs can eat raw carrots.
What do real reindeer eat?
In winter, mostly lichen, which people call reindeer moss, dug out from under the snow with their hooves. In summer they eat leaves, grasses, flowers and even mushrooms. Our page of Santa's reindeer names has more real reindeer facts.
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