Reindeer Food - 2024

A favorite tradition in our house is making 'reindeer food.'  We have done this every December for YEARS now and while a few things have changed, much of it remains the same.  There is always a table set up with bags, twist-ties, labels and bowls (with spoons) of random items to add.

The food items change depending on what is on hand at the time but almost always contain oatmeal, chocolate chips and glitter.  Sometimes there is powdered sugar, old cereal or raisins.  The amount of time that this tradition took has shortened now that the kids are older and more careful.  

Another variance is if all four kids fill their bags at once or meet up in groups depending on the schedule for the day.  This year, I was lucky enough to have all of them together at the same time.  A bonus was that the fireplace was going in the background for heat and ambience.

Reindeer loves oats.

The chocolate chips seem to get eaten by the kids more than they get added to the bags though, ha!

Red glitter is added to (hopefully) glisten off of the snow in the front yard on Christmas Eve.

Adding her tag with her name so that we know which bag belongs to each person on Christmas Eve.

All of them know what to do now and need little, if any coaching, by me.

And, then ... on Christmas Eve ... with a dusting of snow on the ground and the lights shining brightly on the house, they headed outside to sprinkle their special concoctions around for the reindeer.