In order · with a free poster
Santa's reindeer names
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.
That's the order Santa calls them in, from a poem printed in 1823. Learn them with our rhyme, print the poster, meet all eight, then find out what real reindeer are like. For a start, the reindeer with antlers on Christmas Eve is probably a girl.
Two by two
Santa's reindeer names in order
The names come from a poem first printed, with no name on it, in a New York newspaper on December 23, 1823. It's usually credited to Clement Clarke Moore, and most people know it by its first line, about the night before Christmas. Santa calls the eight in this order:
- DasherAlways first
- DancerCan't sit still
- PrancerHooves up high
- VixenClever as a fox
- CometZoom!
- CupidBest nuzzles
- DonnerThunder landings
- BlitzenQuick as lightning
Dasher and Dancer, quick on their toes,
Prancer and Vixen, nose to nose,
Comet and Cupid, ready to fly,
Donner and Blitzen: BOOM! and a flash in the sky!
The trick: Two that start with D, then P and V, two that start with C, and the thunderstorm at the back. Say it at bedtime three nights in a row, and see who can do all eight without peeking.
How two names changed
The first six never changed. The last two did, twice. Dunder and Blixem come from the Dutch words for thunder and lightning, and Donner is the German word for thunder. They're all right, so nobody at your table loses this argument.
- 1823Dunder and Blixem · the first printing
- 1837Donder and Blixen · a New York book of poems
- 1844Donder and Blitzen · the poet's own book
- TodayDonner and Blitzen · what most people write
Sources, checked 10 Oct 2026: University of Toronto Libraries, Representative Poetry Online; University of Michigan, William L. Clements Library; Wikipedia, Santa Claus's reindeer.
Print · free, no sign-up
Santa's reindeer poster to print
All eight in order on one page, each with a little face and a few words, and our rhyme along the bottom. Hang the color one on the fridge, or print it in black and white for coloring in. There's a tracing sheet too, for children learning their letters. US Letter and A4, no email, no sign-up.
Santa's reindeer poster
All eight in order, two by two, each with a little face and a few words, and our rhyme along the bottom. In color, Dancer from our book waves from the corner.
Ages 3 to 8 · 1 page · PDF
Trace the reindeer names
The eight names in dotted letters, in order, each beside a face to color, with room on the line to write it once more.
Ages 4 to 6 · 1 page · PDF
Free for home and classroom use. To pass them on, please share the link to this page and not the file.
One, eight or nine?
How many reindeer does Santa have?
It depends on which year you ask.
1
In 1821
A little New York booklet is the first known time a reindeer pulled Santa's sleigh. Its picture shows just one, with no name. Before the eight, there was one.
8
In 1823
The poem counts eight and names every one, in the order at the top of this page and on our poster.
9
Since 1939
Many families count nine. Rudolph first appeared in a 1939 story that Robert L. May wrote for the Montgomery Ward department store.
And in our own book? Not one in the sky, because Santa goes by hot-air balloon that night. Dancer finds his own fun, though.
Sources, checked 10 Oct 2026: US Food and Drug Administration, Fun Facts About Reindeer and Caribou; University of Toronto Libraries, Representative Poetry Online; Wikipedia, Santa Claus's reindeer.
Who's who
Meet Santa's reindeer
The poem gives us their names and not much else, so we filled in the rest. One of them we know very well.
Number 1
Dasher
First out of the barn and first at the sleigh, every single time. Dasher has never walked anywhere in her whole life. Not ONCE.
Number 2
Dancer
From our book
Ours! In our book, Dancer is the reindeer who can't keep his hooves still. While the others rest, he dances, and he'd love to come and dance in your room.
Number 3
Prancer
Prancer lifts every hoof up high, as if the snow were a stage, and checks his antlers in every frozen puddle on the way.
Number 4
Vixen
A vixen is a girl fox, and this Vixen is just as clever. She knows every shortcut between the North Pole and your roof.
Number 5
Comet
Comet zooms across the sky with snow streaming out behind her, like a comet's tail. Blink and you'll miss her.
Number 6
Cupid
The softie of the team. Cupid gives the best nuzzles at the North Pole and always shares his carrots.
Number 7
Donner
When Donner lands on a roof, the whole street knows about it. Her name means thunder, after all.
Number 8
Blitzen
Blitzen means lightning. She's quick as a flash and runs right at the back, with one eye on the presents.
For curious kids (and grown-ups)
Real reindeer facts for kids
Santa's eight are a bit of a mystery. Real reindeer live all around the top of the world, and they're stranger than you'd think. Every fact here comes from a wildlife agency, a zoo, a university or a science institute, and each card says which.
Reindeer and caribou are the same animal
In North America the wild ones are called caribou and the tame ones reindeer. In Europe they're all reindeer.
Sources: Alaska Fish and Game, USGS, US FDA
The girls grow antlers too
Reindeer are the only deer where boys and girls both grow antlers. Most females have them, only smaller than the big males' antlers.
Antlers on Christmas Eve? Probably a girl
Big males drop their antlers in late fall. Females keep theirs all winter, until their calves are born in spring.
Sources: Alaska Fish and Game, US FDA
New antlers every year
Antlers fall off and grow back every single year, covered in soft, fuzzy skin called velvet.
Sources: US FDA, Smithsonian's National Zoo
Dinner under the snow
In winter they eat mostly lichen, nicknamed reindeer moss, and dig it out from under the snow with their hooves.
Sources: Alaska Fish and Game, USGS, US FDA
Caribou means snow shoveler
The word comes from a Native American word, by way of French, because of all that digging.
Source: USGS
Click, click, click
Their feet and legs click as they walk. Scientists think it may help a herd stay together when they can't see each other, but nobody knows for sure yet.
Built-in snowshoes
They have the widest feet of any deer, and their hooves work as paddles when they swim.
A nose that's a heater
Their furry nose warms freezing air on the way in. At 40 below outside (that's the same in °F and °C!), the air is about 100 °F (38 °C) by the time it reaches the lungs.
Eyes that change color
The back of a reindeer's eye turns from gold in summer to deep blue in winter, which helps them see in the long Arctic dark.
Source: University College London
Walking within an hour
A baby reindeer takes its first wobbly steps within an hour of being born.
Source: Smithsonian's National Zoo
Very long walks
Big herds walk up to 400 miles (640 km) between their summer and winter homes.
Source: Alaska Fish and Game
For the grown-ups: the Alaska Department of Fish and Game keeps a page about Santa's reindeer, written as if they were a real species, with a Latin name and everything. Their December diet? Almost entirely carrot snacks. Read it here.
Leaving them a snack on Christmas Eve? Our reindeer food is oats and seeds in a bowl, with no glitter, so it's safe for garden birds too.
Sources, checked 10 Oct 2026: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Caribou; US Geological Survey, The Other 364 Days of the Year; US Food and Drug Administration, Fun Facts About Reindeer and Caribou; Smithsonian's National Zoo, 25 Days of Reindeer; National Geographic, Reindeer; University of Alaska Fairbanks; Ohio State University; SINTEF, The magical reindeer nose; University College London.
Our own book
The Christmas Secret
A Christmas Eve picture book with a read-along · ages 3 to 7 · out on October 20
On Christmas Eve in The Christmas Secret, Santa leaves the sleigh team behind. He flies his red hot-air balloon over the Golden Mountains instead, and the reindeer get the night off. Well, all of them except Dancer.
Santa's hot-air balloon was floating over the mountains. It was huge, it was red, and as it drifted along, it played a tune.
Questions
Grown-ups ask
What are Santa's reindeer names in order?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. It's the order of the poem that first named them, printed in 1823 and usually credited to Clement Clarke Moore. Our rhyme near the top of this page takes them two at a time, which makes the order much easier to keep.
How many reindeer does Santa have?
Eight, if you go by the 1823 poem. Plenty of families add a ninth, Rudolph, who arrived in a 1939 story by Robert L. May. The oldest picture of Santa's sleigh with a reindeer, from 1821, has only one.
Is it Donner or Donder?
Either. The 1823 printing said Dunder, the poet's own book of 1844 said Donder, and most people write Donner today. His partner changed too: Blitzen started out as Blixem.
Are Santa's reindeer boys or girls?
The poem never says. The antlers drop a hint, though: by Christmas Eve most big males have lost theirs, so a reindeer still wearing antlers is most likely a girl, or a young male. In our book, Dancer is a boy, and he'd like everyone to know he's a VERY good dancer.
Do female reindeer have antlers?
Most of them do, which makes reindeer the odd ones out among deer. A female's antlers are smaller than a big male's, and she keeps them all winter, until her calf is born in spring.
What's the difference between a reindeer and a caribou?
Mostly the name. Both are Rangifer tarandus. North Americans call the wild ones caribou and the herded ones reindeer, while in Europe every one of them is a reindeer. Wild caribou do tend to be a little taller and lankier.
Can reindeer really fly?
Not the ones at the zoo. But when reindeer trot through deep, powdery snow, the Smithsonian's National Zoo says they can look as if they're flying. Santa's eight are another story, of course.
More Christmas
Or see all of them on one page, from the weeks before Christmas to the night itself.
Christmas EvePlan the evening together, print a card for Santa's plate and his boot prints, and find every Christmas page in the order it happens.
24 Doors, the advent calendar by emailOne door by email every morning from December 1 to 24: a riddle, something to make, a kind mission, and now and then an animal that steps into your room.
Christmas scavenger huntRhyming clues from one of Santa's elves for Christmas morning and Christmas Eve, and Santa's own candy cane hunt from our book, which ends at the bookshelf.
Letter to Santa and wish listDraw it, trace it or write it: a letter to Santa for every age, a wish list, and Santa's real addresses.
A letter from SantaSanta writes back, in his own handwriting: your child's name, two good things they did this year, and notes for Christmas morning.
How many sleeps until Christmas?Count the sleeps with the little glass box from our story, and print a paper chain that loses a link every night.
Christmas Eve box ideasWhat goes in the box at every age from 1 to 8, with box labels, name tags and a key for Father Christmas to print.
Book advent calendarHow to make one on any budget, with 24 numbered tags to print and 24 picture books by age.
Christmas picture booksTwelve new ones for 2026 and 24 classics by age, with how long each one takes to read aloud.
Reindeer foodOats and seeds in a bowl, never glitter, with our own poem and bag toppers and tags with your child's name.
Santa's nice listA certificate for kind things only, signed by Santa, and 24 kind things to do in December.
Christmas gift tagsEveryone's names fit on one sheet of tags in the pictures of our book, and Santa's own tags come signed.
Christmas elf namesSpin up an elf name from a first letter and a birthday month, and make it official with a badge or an elf ID card.
The candy cane storyCandy canes were plain white until about 1900. Read what happened next and the legends, then print blank canes to stripe your own way.
Christmas activity sheetsSeven black and white sheets for ages 3 to 8, from a picture word search to bingo for a whole class, answers included.