Reindeer food recipe: the mix that works, and why we skip the glitter

Reindeer food is a handful of oats and a little shine, scattered on the lawn on Christmas Eve so the reindeer can spot the house from the sky. The recipe below is the one that actually works, and it does not use glitter.

Real glitter causes a real problem once it is outside, and there is a better way to get the sparkle without it. Below is the mix, what to put it in, how children scatter it, and what the lawn looks like the next morning.

The recipe

This makes enough for one child to scatter in a few handfuls. Double or triple it if more than one child is taking part, or if you want enough for a class.

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons plain birdseed
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• A shake of ground cinnamon

Mix it all in a bowl and let your child stir it with a spoon. That is the whole recipe. The magic is in the stirring and the scattering, not a secret ingredient, and every part of it is safe for actual birds to eat once it lands on the grass.

Why we leave out glitter

Craft glitter is plastic, cut into pieces too small to pick up by hand. It does not dissolve in rain, and it does not break down in soil the way oats or sugar do. Once it is scattered on a lawn, wind and water carry it into flower beds and storm drains, and it can stay there for years.

It also gets eaten. Birds that hunt for shiny things will peck at scattered glitter, and hedgehogs and other animals that forage on lawns after dark can pick it up too. This is common enough that many nurseries and primary schools have stopped using craft glitter in classroom projects for exactly this reason. A tradition built around scattering something outdoors, on purpose, every single year, is not the place to use it.

A sparkle that actually breaks down

You do not have to give up the shine. A few things catch the light in porch glow or on snow just as well as glitter does, and none of them stick around afterward.

• Edible glitter or sanding sugar, sold in the cake decorating aisle. Check the label says edible, since some products sold as cake glitter are labeled non-toxic rather than edible, which means safe to touch but not meant to be eaten.
• Colored sugar. Cheap, easy to find, and it does the same job as sanding sugar.
• Extra cinnamon and a few more oats, with no added sparkle at all. It still catches the light a little and it smells like the holidays.
• Plant based glitter, if you want a stronger shimmer. Look for a label that says cellulose or plant based, since the word biodegradable by itself is not a regulated claim and gets used loosely.

Swap the cinnamon shake in the recipe above for a tablespoon of colored sugar or edible glitter, and the jar gets the same sparkle without the part that would still be sitting in the lawn come spring.

A note if a dog shares the yard

Oats, birdseed, brown sugar and a shake of cinnamon are all fine in small amounts for a dog that comes across the mix while sniffing around the lawn. The one thing to check is the sparkle. Some sugar free sprinkles and sanding sugars use xylitol as a sweetener, and xylitol is genuinely dangerous to dogs even in small amounts. Read the label on whatever you use for shine, and if it says sugar free, choose a different one for this recipe.

What to put it in

A small jar with a lid, like an empty spice jar, holds the mix without spilling and washes out for use again next year. Small paper bags work too and cost less, though they do not hold up if the mix sits outside in the rain before it gets scattered. If more than one child is taking part, give each one their own jar or bag with a name on it, so nobody argues about whose turn it is. A small funnel helps little hands pour the mix in without half of it landing on the counter.

How children scatter it

After dark, on the lawn, the driveway, or any patch of yard visible from the sky, a small handful is enough. There is no need to empty the whole jar in one spot, and saving a little back means there is still some left for a photo the next morning. Some families scatter a trail from the street to the front door instead of one spot on the grass, which works just as well and doubles as a way to guide Santa in. An apartment balcony, a windowsill box, or a small dish outside the door does the same job when there is no yard at all.

The mess on the lawn in the morning

Because the mix is oats, birdseed and sugar, there is nothing to clean up. Actual birds will eat most of it within a day or two, and rain finishes the rest. If some of it lands on a patio or driveway instead of grass, a quick sweep into a flower bed clears it, though it should never be swept into a storm drain. This is the whole reason to skip real glitter in the first place. Everything else in this recipe disappears on its own, and glitter is the one ingredient that will not.

Reindeer food usually happens early in the evening, before the cookies go out and the stockings get hung. Our guide to cookies for Santa covers what to leave out next, and the full Christmas Eve page has the rest of the night in order.