Magic Reindeer Food Favors - Full Tutorial and Printable Poem

Three Christmases ago, when our son was in his first year of preschool, he came home with a snack-size Ziploc bag containing a mix of what looked like oatmeal and glitter. Stapled on the outside was a note that read: ‘Magic Reindeer Food’, and a beautiful poem that I will share with you shortly.

Born and raised in an Italian family, I grew up in a solid Roman Catholic home, where the idea of Christmas morning was expecting ‘Baby Jesus’ to bring us presents. Santa Claus (or San Nicolas in our culture) was a character we saw on posters, or figurines decorating the tree, but he was not the one bringing the presents, riding on a majestic sleigh guided by reindeer.

…It was ‘Baby Jesus’ who brought the presents. Say what?

These magic reindeer food favors are easy to make and are the perfect takeaway for a Christmas party. Kids love to sprinkle it on the lawn on Christmas Eve.

Come to think of it, it sounds a little far-fetched that our little Holy Baby who was just born the night before will deliver presents to all the kids in the world the very next morning. But we were children, and we just believed. We believed in the magic of Christmas Day.

Ten years ago, when I celebrated my very first Christmas in America, I put my Santa hat on, literally and figuratively, and embraced the new tradition with all my heart. And like a child, the thought of Santa riding on a sleigh guided by reindeer, and bringing presents makes me giddy and excited. Not looking back. I am an adult, and while I still respect all of my Catholic traditions, I have decided to believe in Santa, too!

Fast forward to that day when our son came home from preschool and handed me the ‘Magic Reindeer Food’ bag.

At that moment, I felt that there wasn’t anything cuter or sweeter than that. What a beautiful tradition we were starting! Yes, I was in my 30s when I first heard about the magic reindeer food! The poem in the bag read like this:

'Sprinkle on the lawn at night, the moon will make it sparkle bright! As Santa's Reindeer fly and roam, this will guide them to your home.'

Like every Christian family, we are raising our son in our religion teaching him the true meaning of Christmas; the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus. But, I love the tradition of Santa riding on a sleigh, reindeer flying high in the sky, and this magic reindeer food sprinkled on our lawn on Christmas Eve.

Magic Reindeer Food Party Favors

This weekend, I hosted a small Christmas party with 13 kids, all under 6. I made magic reindeer food favors for them to take away in their goody bags. So, here is the recipe for magic reindeer food, a cute way to present it, and the beautiful reindeer food poem in printable form.

The following are affiliate links, for more information please read my Affiliate Disclosure.

Ingredients for Magic Reindeer Food

Yields: 20 favors of approximately 1 oz. each.

To make the magic reindeer food, you will need:

1/2 cup of Old Fashioned Oatmeal
1/3 cup of Raw quinoa – When you sprinkle the mix on the lawn, birds will feast on this superfood!
Christmas Sprinkles (nonpareils or confetti) – Any of these would work!
Fine glitter – Preferably gold and/or silver. You can also use edible glitter for an eco-friendly recipe

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Adjust glitter, and confetti until the mixture looks festive 🙂

Materials Needed

To assemble the favors you will need:

Mini storage containers with lids – If possible, purchase these at your local dollar store, 10 for $1.00. You can also find them on Amazon.
Chenille stems or pipe cleaners – If possible, purchase these at your local dollar store, 45 for $1.00. You can also find them on Amazon.
White copy paper – to print the poem
Magic Reindeer Food Poem – Available at my online shop.
Glue lines
Craft Scissors – Here is a list of my must-have crafting tools and materials.

Fill the mini containers with the reindeer food approximately halfway up, and cover by pressing the lid firmly. These containers are very small. The pictures can be deceiving, so I placed one on top of a yellow sticky note (above) and held it in my hands too (below) so you can have a rough idea of the size.

I added the Magic Reindeer Food Poem in PDF file with a set of 8 magic reindeer food cards per page, to my online shop. The card measures 5 inches x 1.75 inches and it is designed to fit snugly over the containers’ lids. But, you can also insert it inside a snack-size Ziploc along with the food.

Once you print the sheet, cut each card and stick to the top of the lid using the glue lines, as shown in the picture below.

Fold in three, leaving the baby Rudolph image facing up as shown in the picture below.

With your index finger, make a small loop on each end of a pipe cleaner. Place the container centered over the pipe cleaner, and twist the pipe cleaners to tie. The loops give the little box the look of a miniature present.