Do you leave out Food for Reindeer at Christmas? Oh my goodness it is the most fun thing to do ever. Is it even Christmas if you don’t do this! Rudolph and his pals need feeding you know!
“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” – Mother Theresa
It’s traditional to leave out food for Rudoph and his friends at Christmas time and not just a carrot in the fireplace. Lots of people love to sprinkle reindeer food on their front lawn or door step to welcome the reindeer and encourage Father Christmas to stop by their house.
Sometimes the Reindeer Food you buy from the shop though isn’t great for wildlife as it contains bits of plastic and glitter.
It is much better for the reindeer and any passing animals or birds who fancy a nibble if you throw out food that won’t harm them, so you might want to try making your own. This is actually a really sweet thing to do and it really can become a very precious tradition that will be handed down form generation to generation if you make it lovely and do it year on year.
Food for Reindeer ( it is all very simple really)
You will need:
- !/2 cup of rolled oats
- Some dried fruit, like cranberries or apricots chopped up
- 1/2 cup of wild bird seed / sunflowers seed
- A few chopped up nuts
How to make food for reindeer
Simply stir your mix together to either sprinkle on your lawn or leave in a bowl by your front door on Christmas eve. If you really dont want to make a big mess I suggest you c keep it in a bowl but I promise you it will all get gobbled up.
Gift your Food for Reindeer
If you have any jam jars you could make up batches for your friends too. You could even include a reindeer joke in your gift jar.
You could even consider adding a little joke tag to any food for reindeer you gift. How about one of these …
Here are some of our favourite reindeer jokes …
Which of Santa’s reindeer has bad manners? “Rude”-olph!
Why is Prancer always wet? Because he’s a “rain”-deer!
What do reindeer hang on their Christmas trees? “Horn”-aments!
How does Rudolph know when Christmas is coming? He looks at his calen-“deer”!
What did the reindeer say when he saw an elf? Nothing, reindeer can’t talk.
And what are the reindeer’s names?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen will all be delighted with their Food for Reindeer that you leave out for them.
Become more reindeer savvy
You can find out loads more about reindeer here
This, though has to be my all time favourite Reindeer fact ….
Believe it or not, reindeer actually do have red noses like Rudolph! Well, sort of… Lots of tiny veins circulate warm blood around their nose, heating up the air they breathe in so they don’t get cold – clever!
(national geographic kids)
Don’t forget father Christmas!
Don’t forget to leave dear old santa Claus a cookie too – or what about one of our homemade delicious pretzel Christmas trees – yum!
Further reading
Have you read my post on 12 days of Christmas kindness for kids? This jar of food for reindeer would definitely count as one of them
and how about these ideas for a digital Christmas?
I alos have a free printable Rudolph wordsearch here – are you starting to gather that I am actually a bit of a reindeer fan!
I do hope you have enjoyed this post and i do wish you a very merry Christmas
