The supermarket says the festive campaign aims to introduce kids to wonky veg, encourage families to buy large or misshapen carrots, and help out busy parents who might otherwise forget a gift for Santa.
It follows new research amongst UK parents which reveals that leaving food and drink out for Santa Claus and the reindeers is still a popular tradition for British kids with 6.2 million UK families (77 per cent) participating this Christmas Eve.
The research shows that the humble carrot is the most popular item left beside the fireplace (57 per cent), with a mince pie (56 per cent) a close second.
A glass of milk (41 per cent) just came out on top of a glass of sherry (32 per cent) as Santa’s preferred tipple.
The study also shows nearly three quarters of those in today’s family households (74 per cent) would leave food and drink for Santa and his reindeers when they were children and that it’s still considered an important part of a family Christmas for 70 per cent. However well over a third (35
However, well over a third (35 per cent) believe that their parents' generation followed it much more than we do nowadays indicating that they may not be aware that the tradition is still as popular as ever.
According to the supermarket chain, the typical spread of carrots, mince pies and a glass of sherry sets the average family back £2.10, putting the total cost to UK households at a whopping £13million.
‘Carrots for Rudolph’ which look misshapen but still taste delicious will be handed out from the entrances of the 492 Morrisons stores across the UK to help families take part in this annual tradition.
They can be enjoyed by the whole family, Santa himself as well as Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Blitzen and co.
Morrisons has a carrot washing and packing plant in North Yorkshire where carrots are sorted into perfect and ‘wonky’ bags.
Although customers are buying more misshapen and over-sized carrots there are still more that could be sold to be eaten by customers.
Jessica Lawson, Head of Morrisons carrot plant in Yorkshire, said: “We want to make it easy for our customers to enjoy this magical tradition and highlight that wonky carrots are just as tasty as perfect-looking carrots, they are often cheaper, and there are plenty more available to buy.”
The tradition of leaving food and drink out for Father Christmas and his reindeer can be traced all the way back to ancient Norse mythology when children would leave out food for Sleipner the eight-legged horse ridden by Norse God Odin in the hope that he would stop by on his travels and leave gifts in return.
Over the years, different countries have developed their own versions with American children leaving out cookies and milk and Swedish kids leaving rice porridge.
