You know Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen. But do you recall that renting Santa's reindeer brethren for Christmas events can be a business with a six-figure income?
Reindeer are the gifts that keep on giving for the Jessen Reindeer Ranch in Loveland, Colorado.
During the Christmas season, the Jessen family is busy transporting its small herd of reindeer to holiday events, delighting children and families everywhere they go.
"We let the kids know that these are Santa's backup reindeer," Chris Jessen told Cowboy State Daily. "If Donner or Blitzen gets sick, Santa will fly to our property and pick up our reindeer. He'll let them fly his sleigh for a little bit while we care for Donner and Blitzen, and then he'll come back to pick them up."
In more practical terms, "reindeer rental" is a niche and potentially lucrative seasonal business. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Jessen family is busy taking their reindeer across Colorado and southern Wyoming, and that income stuffs the family's stockings and then some.
"You can earn well over six figures in that month," Jessen said.
The Jessen Reindeer Ranch rents rendeer for events in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Raising and caring for reindeer is expensive, but can easily bring in more than $100,000 in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. (Jessen Reindeer Ranch via Facebook) 
The Jessen Reindeer Ranch rents rendeer for events in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Raising and caring for reindeer is expensive, but can easily bring in more than $100,000 in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. (Jessen Reindeer Ranch via Facebook)
Ranching Reindeer
The Jessen Reindeer Ranch has been renting and breeding reindeer for about six years. It started with a cute idea and a sizable investment.
"It started with a lot of research," Jessen said. "We had to figure out if you can own reindeer and if it was a feasible option for us, so we looked at different businesses across the nation. Then, it was getting on the waiting list to acquire reindeer, and they're pretty hard to acquire."
Most startup reindeer rental businesses fail before they start because of the surprisingly high cost of acquiring reindeer. Jessen said a single reindeer can cost between $16,000 and $22,000, meaning the initial investment must be at least $30,000.
"There's not a lot of breeders across the United States, so there's a very, very limited supply," he said. "And you cannot buy just one reindeer. You have to have two."
After being on a reindeer waiting list for over a year, the Jessen Reindeer Ranch started with seven reindeer, a mixture of males and females.
In 2025, they still have seven reindeer, but it's a mix of the original herd and calves born and bred on the ranch.
If acquiring reindeer wasn't expensive enough, keeping them happy and healthy is also costly. Jessen said the upkeep costs around $5,000 per reindeer, per year.
"Reindeer are a daily commitment," he said. "They're free roaming on our 50 acres for 11 months out of the year, but they're not something you can put in the pasture and leave be. They're a full-time commitment."
Sounds like a lot of investment and effort for the one month when reindeer are in high demand. Is it worth it?
On Everyone's Christmas List
Once the Jessen Reindeer Ranch was established, requests for bookings poured in. As soon as northern Colorado heard there were reindeer to rent, the phone started ringing and hasn't stopped.
"In our first couple of years, we were turning down 60 to 80 events a year," Jessen said. "There's not a lot of marketing you need to do. Once you have reindeer, people find you."
There are more reindeer ranches in Colorado since the Jessens got started, partly because they sold reindeer to other people who started their own businesses. Even with more regional competition, they're still turning down dozens of requests every year.
Reindeer are requested for a variety of different holiday events. In Jessen's experience, everyone seems to think their Christmas festivities will be better with a reindeer or two.
"The most common booking we get is for lighting festivities for cities, but we get a lot of different requests," he said. "Private businesses use them for promotional days to get more traffic in their stores, and some people want a reindeer at their home on Christmas Eve. We get requests for reindeer at weddings once in a while, but not very often."
The reindeer experience varies based on the event. For smaller events, Jessen said he usually brings a single reindeer, which he keeps on a lead, for "a more intimate experience" with photos and gentle petting.
For bigger events, Jessen brings multiple reindeer and a 12-by-12-foot pen. The reindeer are more for show at these events, as there are too many people for photo-ops and petting.
"We only turn down events where we don't feel that the reindeer would be safe," he said. "Too many people, limited security, not enough space."
Fun Facts
Jessen said he and his family enjoy educating people about reindeer during these events. And his reindeer are reindeer, not caribou.
"Reindeer lived in Northern Europe and Mongolia, and all those animals have been domesticated," he said. "Caribou are primarily North American animals that are non-domesticated."
According to Jessen, reindeer have been domesticated for over 3,000 years. They can survive in temperatures up to minus 60 degrees, run up to 45 mph, and have one of the thickest fur coats of any animal, with up to 5,000 hairs per square inch.
The most mind-blowing fact they shared is that the majority of antlered reindeer people see during the Christmas season are female. Rudolph's more likely to be bald on Christmas Eve.
"They're the only cervid species where both the male and female grow antlers, but the boys lose their antlers in November and December, unless they're neutered," he said. "The girls typically lose their antlers after they calve in April and May, so they're more likely to have antlers in December."
No Reign In Wyoming
Since starting the Jessen Reindeer Ranch, Jessen has taken his reindeer to hundreds of events in Loveland and the surrounding area and has accepted bookings as far as Aspen. One place he can't go is Wyoming.
"Because reindeer are cervids, there are travel restrictions," he said. "There's a lot of concern about chronic wasting disease, so movement of reindeer outside Colorado is almost impossible."
If someone wanted to start their own reindeer rental business in Wyoming, Jessen wouldn't be able to provide them with any.
"You cannot own reindeer in the state of Wyoming," he said. "One of the first things we had to do was make sure Colorado would allow us to own reindeer, which it does. But Wyoming doesn't."
Wyoming State Statute 23-1-302 gives the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission the authority "to regulate or prohibit the importation of exotic species, small game animals, fur-bearing animals, protected animals, game birds, migratory birds, protected birds and fish into Wyoming, and to regulate the importation of big or trophy game animals into Wyoming only for exhibition purposes or for zoos."
That legal jargon means that strict permits are required to own exotic animals in Wyoming. Certain animals, like big cats and non-native hoof stock, are outright prohibited.
"Some parameters that our permitting section would consider are diseases these animals could carry that may threaten the wildlife in the state, level of containment difficulty, the level of difficulty to meet humane living conditions for the possessed species, and public safety concerns upon escape or illegal release of an animal, just to name a few," Wyoming Game and Fish spokesperson Rene Schell told Cowboy State Daily in June 2024.
Chinchillas, ostriches, emus, camels, and even zebras are classified as domesticated animals in Wyoming. Reindeer aren't, so that's one bit of Christmas cheer you won't see here.
The Jessen Reindeer Ranch rents rendeer for events in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Raising and caring for reindeer is expensive, but can easily bring in more than $100,000 in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. (Jessen Reindeer Ranch via Facebook) 
The Jessen Reindeer Ranch rents rendeer for events in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Raising and caring for reindeer is expensive, but can easily bring in more than $100,000 in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. (Jessen Reindeer Ranch via Facebook)
Well Worth It
Many people would find it frustrating to spend most of the Christmas season working and traveling with reindeer, but Jessen said the business has been a great family experience. Pam and his children, Maddi and Bodhi, are often on hand to help out at the bigger events, and they all enjoy it.
"It's been a great experience for the family," he said. "We get to hang out together with the reindeer and work as a family."
The family experience is well worth it, but are the financials? Between the dozens of events they attend every year, Jessen said renting reindeer for one month is enough to cover their expensive upkeep with something extra for the family.
There's also extra money to be made in breeding reindeer, which the Jessen Reindeer Ranch has done successfully over the years. Any reindeer they don't want to keep can be sold to other ranches, which has led to a thriving reindeer rental industry in Colorado.
"I have a full-time job outside of this, so the reindeer rental is more of a tax and business opportunity for us," he said. "The upkeep and veterinary care have a high cost, but we make enough money to cover their costs and make it worthwhile for us."
That Sleighs
The 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" introduced Santa Claus's magical sleigh, pulled by eight reindeer, into Christmas pop culture. The Jessen Reindeer Ranch has seven reindeer of varying ages and sexes, but could they pull a sleigh?
"Reindeer are fantastic at pulling sleds," Jessen said. "They're actually ridden in Mongolia, but we don't train or force them to pull sleighs or anything like that."
The reindeer at the Jessen Reindeer Ranch are treated like royalty and seen more as pets than livestock. Nobody's asked Jessen for a fully trained team of reindeer to pull Santa's sleigh for their Christmas event, but he doesn't intend to offer it in the future.
"We do not treat our reindeer as beasts of burden," he said. "They go to 10 or 20 events a year and are spoiled rotten the rest of the time."
To the top of the porch to the top of the wall: cash away, cash away, cash away all!
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
