Should I sell reindeer food at my upcoming Xmas Market.

[LauraSaidIShouldBeNicer]

I have a Xmas Market coming up on the 20th Nov selling homemade pet things and natural treats (I have all official stuff, insurances and bits sorted) am wondering should I make some reindeer food bags up? Would they look out of place with the dog and cat treats?

My first market is in a specialist school.

@NoSuchThingAsAFish

Isn't 20th November really early to be buying food which is unwrapped from its original container and won't be used for over a month? Where/how are the families supposed to keep it in the meantime? If you're going to sell it at all, surely it needs to be in an airtight container?

Most people are not buying this to eat.

Why would you give reindeer food to birds?

i would probably buy some decent bird seed/food, thats all..reindeers have a special type of food, at reindeer farms..

@DragonDoor

Do you mean raw oats and glitter in a plastic cone?

It might sell well as pocket money’ item, but reindeer food is gimmicky, never mind that is bad for animals and children if ingested. Real animal lovers won’t buy it, and it’s bad for the environment.

How about hot chocolate packs instead, or festive seed balls?

This real animal lover bought some, it comes out each year to sit under the tree.

@LauraSaidIShouldBeNicer

Mine is in red organza bags, with a cardboard tag. Bought at a school fair. They sold loads!!

We used to just make up some little gauze bags ourselves - just porridge oats that we have anyway and we've still a small tub of glitter from 12 years ago that's done every reindeer food bag, tooth fairy visit and Dinovember since (we stopped last year when youngest was10)

Oh sorry I see you said to sell not buy! That's not very helpful then!
You could add a little bag to hot chocolate/choc stirrer/marshmallow packs for the Christmas Eve boxes?

@TatianaBis

Why would you give reindeer food to birds?

I can't tell if you are joking or not.

You don't 'give' it to birds. You chuck it on your lawn or leave it on your front wall on Christmas Eve for the reindeers.

However, if there is some left after the reindeers have eaten it, it's likely that it will be eaten by birds. Due to this it needs to be safe for birds to eat.

Is there a change the school PTA will have a stall? If so I’d imagine they’ll have some kind of reindeer food (most seem to!) I don’t like it particularly (we do the old fashioned carrots still) but plenty of people seem to buy (esp if it’s non-glitter type). Instead of this how about making shaped bird seed instead as seems more in keeping with your overall products? I got some last year from dobbies shaped like stars. Mixed seeds with I’m guessing suet to hold the shapes and a garden string to hang outside. My children loved them. You could do lots of Christmassy shapes. I’d buy those from an Xmas fair stall over reindeer food.

A “chance” not change sorry for typos.

Yeah I always buy these for the kids to put out but as you've said, never the ones that are glitter and full of colours - I always opt for the ones that are essentially bird food, so it can actually be eaten by other wildlife safely! It's cute if you've got little ones.

I normally get ones in clear bags, then those like me, can see what's inside and know it is safe for other animals! Typically they have a little Christmassy sticker on with "Reindeer Food" and only ever cost about £1!

I like your idea far more than the glittery crap that our PTA charges a quid for. irresponsible one-upmanship with no idea what they are doing

I'd definitely buy what you're proposing though.

Last year I got my class to make eco friendly reindeer cookies! We used lard and birdseed and they loved mixing it up then cutting out with Christmas cookie cutters! We put in wee bags and they sold them!

I did wander about shaped bird feeder things but everytime I've made them with the kids they crumble into pieces. I like the idea of a bird seed wreath but again when I made one it crumbled up.

@LauraSaidIShouldBeNicer

I wasn't going to put glitter in it definitely not. I was going to do bird seeds or muesli mix with sugar sprinkles.

No

Look at this - 2 dogs died near us from museli

No for the reason above. Bad for animals. Also it’s a waste of time and resources.

@LauraSaidIShouldBeNicer

I did wander about shaped bird feeder things but everytime I've made them with the kids they crumble into pieces. I like the idea of a bird seed wreath but again when I made one it crumbled up.

On the lard/birdseed shapes are made keep them very cold until you are selling them then they will stay in one piece! The kids at school loved the fact the reminder would be getting proper biscuits/cookies!

Lichen is proper reindeer food. Rabbit/hamster food is the next nearest appropriate thing and no glitter should be included in anything being put out where animals might ingest the micro plastic and kill them...

I was also going to suggest using rabbit/guineapig food - it looks like it would work for reindeer!
Sample in a plastic bag, but sold in brown paper bags that will biodegrade = lovely. You could used coloured raffia string rather than ribbon to tie them up.

Maybe dot the bag with sugar sprinkles rather than put it in the food?

I love buying reindeer food for the kids at Christmas!

And the birdseed Christmas wreaths look lovely.

@1vandal2

Lichen is proper reindeer food. Rabbit/hamster food is the next nearest appropriate thing and no glitter should be included in anything being put out where animals might ingest the micro plastic and kill them...

Yes, that was covered two days ago.

And yet museli and other inappropriate things have been mentioned

@1vandal2

And yet museli and other inappropriate things have been mentioned

Not since that was also covered two days ago.

Great idea, the children will love it and the birds will get an extra feed.

This is one of the most unintentionally amusing threads I've read in a long time

We're doing magic reindeer food at the PTA Christmas fayre. It's literally bird seed and some pellets in a paper bag, with a tag with a little rhyme on explaining that you put it out for the reindeer on Christmas eve. 50p or a £1 a bag probably.

(After all, it's only Rudoph who gets the carrot.)

No, because chucking glitter on the ground is a shitty thing to do.

If it's just oats... then fine, but I still don't get why just throwing shit on the floor is supposed to be fun. Fake reindeer don't need food. And kids don't need to be encouraged that just became Mummy thinks it's whimsical, you can throw crap on the ground, leave plastic fairy tat all through the woods or tie plastic ribbons on trees and all the rest of it.

OP, go for it. I bought some off Etsy last week. It's bird seed with a few dried berries to provide some colour. It's in a red drawstring bag marked reindeer food so next year I can refill it myself. It doesn't need to be irresponsible.

Heaven forbid that kids have a bit of fun on christmas eve.