Sweet M&M and peanut butter cup candy mixed with salty pretzels in this Christmas Chex Mix make any holiday party more fun and tasty!

Confectioners sugar covered chex cereal, mini reeses cups, M&Ms and pretzels make Christmas Puppy Chow

If you like this recipe you may also enjoy Christmas Pretzel M&M Hugs.

M&M Chex Mix

Chex mix fancied up with red and green candy for Christmas is also called Reindeer Food, Reindeer Crack and Christmas Puppy Chow. Mix in your favorite cereal and candy to make this dessert recipe best for you and your family!

We love easy snacks and candy that are easy to customize. Our Crock Pot Peanut Clusters, Spicy Pretzels, Almond Bark Specials and Chocolate Dessert Pizza are great recipes to start with, but can be made even better by adding extra ingredients that you love. Chex Mix is built the same way.

Little ones make Christmas so much more fun, so I love finding easy recipes to make with kids. Making a Christmas Chex Mix is a great activity to do together with grandkids, your own kids or someone’s kids.

Reindeer chow in a decorative Christmas serving bowl is Confectioners sugar covered chex cereal, mini reeses cups, M&Ms and pretzels

Chex Mix is always easy to make and during the hustle of Christmas, this recipe can be made even with crazy schedules. All you need is chocolate chips, creamy peanut butter, butter, vanilla, rice or corn squares cereal, pretzels, confectioners’ sugar, M&Ms and mini peanut butter cups

With some adult supervision, the mess can be contained to one pot to melt the chocolate mixture and one extra large zip lock bag which is used to coat the ingredients with chocolate and confectioners sugar.

If it doesn’t all mix up perfectly it still tastes great and is fun to make!

Magic Reindeer Food

Growing up on a farm with cattle we always have hay. I remember a couple of years we would make Chocolate Chip Cookies to set out with milk for Santa. My dad would bring up a few flakes of hay from the barn and sit in the yard for the reindeer to eat.

Looking back it’s disappointing that he just put the hay in the yard because as I think it through further the hay belonged on the roof.

Reindeer food made with chex mix, pretzels and chocolate candy in a decorative Christmas serving bowl

When my son was about 5, the man I was dating who became my husband worked at a feed mill. I shared more about that feed mill and how our family makes feed in this blog post about Making Animal Feed.

He tested pig, turkey and chicken feed to make sure that it had the right analysis. He took a zip lock baggie of turkey feed, crushed up candy canes and added it to the bag. He brought the bag to my son and suggested he put that outside as reindeer food. Everybody feeds santa, but what about the reindeer doing the hard work?

Just in case you don’t happen to have the farm equipment available to mix up a couple tons of “reindeer food” this recipe will work just fine and the humans will enjoy it just as much as flying reindeer!

How to Make Reindeer Food

Melt peanut butter, butter and chocolate chips over medium-low heat. Stir frequently until melted
Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
In a large 2-gallon sealing bag OR in a large stockpot with a lid combine cereal and 2 cups of pretzels.
Pour melted chocolate mixture over cereal and pretzels and stir gently to coat.
Add powdered sugar and seal bag OR put lid on pot. Turn bag or pot upside down and shake and swirl until coated.
Pour half of the mixture into a serving bowl and add a layer of half of remaining pretzels, M&Ms & mini peanut butter cups.
Add remaining ingredients in layers as you desire and enjoy.

Tips for Making Reindeer Chow or Christmas Puppy Chow

Add your favorite small chocolate candies to personalize the recipe
Use rice or corn chex cereal or a combination of the two
Makes great homemade gifts in a decorative holiday sealing bag or with a bow tied around a plain bag
Store leftovers in an airtight container