Santa Claus has spent the season filling his belly with delectable treats for his busy night of delivering presents Christmas Eve. Although Santa will have thousands of cookies and several gallons of milk waiting for him during his various stops around the world, few people can pinpoint what his reindeer eat for fuel up for the journey.

First grade students at Pleasant Home School were given the opportunity share their thoughts on what Santa’s reindeer eat before the big night and some of their responses were quite colorful.

Riley Chen suggested a typical meal with a little added treat.

“They eat grass and oatmeal,” he said. “I would also give them gingerbread men cookies for a treat if they are good.”

Joey Lucal seemed to think some magical ingredients should be added to help the reindeer fly.

“They eat rotten oatmeal with glitter in it and some grass,” he said.

Logan Royals seemed to agree with Joey’s theory.

“I would feed Santa’s reindeer oatmeal with sparks in it so they can fly,” he said.

Deanna Wilkerson said she would love to feed Santa’s reindeer some oats, but Madison Douglas seemed to have done her homework on reindeer.

“Reindeer eat oatmeal raisin cookies,” she said. “They really love raisins.”

Ryan Richardson offered a more practical and readily available meal for the popular reindeer.

“I think reindeer eat leaves,” he said.

Ashley Wambles said she would just make sure the reindeer had plenty of hay to eat before taking to the sky tonight.

Hannah Hobbie thought the reindeer should be given a little something extra.

“I would love to feed Santa’s reindeer apples,” she said. “I would cut the apple into sections, remove the stem and feed it to them.”

According to Addy Ross, reindeer require a specific diet to be shipshape for the big night.

“Reindeer have to eat horse oats and they can also snack on grass in the stable Christmas Eve before they help Santa deliver presents to everyone,” she said.

Devin Day saw no problem with Santa sharing some of his treats with the reindeer.

“Santa shares his chocolate chip cookies with the reindeer to thank them for being so nice and helping to deliver presents to all the good boys and girls,” he said.

Gage Arthur said he felt the reindeer should enjoy his favorite snack.

“I would feed potato chips to the reindeer because they are my favorite and I know they would like them too,” he said.