Thursday, August 25, 2011

Lunchbox Love

All 3 of the girls will eat lunch at school this year. Ella goes all week obviously, and Reese and Charlotte go 2 days (then 3 days the next, and rotate back to 2). And yes, I fully plan on getting some of those weeks mixed up - I can see me calling the school...

"Is Kindergarten today? Or was it yesterday? With Labor Day in there does that mean you add a day? Or take away a day? Did they go 3 days last week or is that not till next week? What is today?? Where am I again??"

Ahem.

So I have been googling "fun lunchbox ideas" the past couple weeks to find some fun stuff to help make packing more fun - cause for some reason the oldest thinks its more fun to buy, and well, mama thinks it is just to expensive over the course of a month and that packing is plain healthier.

Unless you count the York Peppermint Patties...or the Airheads that I put in sometimes. They are family favorites. You gotta splurge sometimes, right? Right.

But honestly, I am really picky about what they eat most of the time, so when I pack I know exactly what they're eating, and that makes me happy.

Controlling, you say? I like to call it very involved.

So I came across some things I thought were easy and worth sharing...

1. This is a no-brainer (is that a word?). I always put a little note in the kids lunchboxes, and when I miss a day, they ask where it was. That right there tells me how much it means to them, and it makes me feel like they still need me even when they are at school :). I just write, "have a great day at school!...learn a lot today!...do your best!' And I always close with, "mommy loves you SO much!"

Sometimes if I have an extra minute I'll get real festive and add a couple stickers. I know, I'm a wild woman.

2. I've changed the game up a bit on the 'ol sandwich. Why not a wrap? The girls love them, they come in a variety of healty kinds, and you can stuff them full of things that are good for them! It's a win-win-win!


3. Another fun thing I found for when I do pack a sandwich is this snazzy idea...


Um seriously, how cute is that sandwich? Even I want one.

It is super easy, and a cheap way to impress the kiddos at lunchtime. You can find the simple directions here.

So those are a few things I'm doing to make a healthy packed lunch more fun. Anyone else have any ideas for fun lunchbox items? I'd love some new ones!

Disclosure - Compensation was provided by Country Crock via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Country Crock.

5 comments:

Ruth said...

Stickers and love notes always make life better! What a cool mom!

Anonymous said...

My bread never cuts like that! It just crumbles... Darn sprouted bread! This was a neat post. I am into the lunchbox love too. Odelia's lunchbox has 5 compartments and I try to make sure that she never has the same 5 items twice.

cowartclan said...

My boys like the sandwich "stuff" on toothpicks. I give them 3. So I put a cube of cheese, a pickle round, cherry tomato and cube of ham on the toothpick. They love it!! I swap types of cheese (string cheese, mozzarella, havarti, cheddar), veggies (cucumbers, olives, zuchini) and meat (leftover chicken cubes, turkey, etc. ) My munchkins love it. Sometimes I add a side of DIP, just because dip is fun!!!

The Energizer Mommy said...

It's so funny that I JUST saw that hand cut-out sandwich a week ago when I was googling the whole lunchbox situation. Great minds think alike.

Find That Warm Fuzzy Feeling said...

A great way to get a message to the kiddo's other than on paper is via bananas. It sounds ludicrous but it works. Write whatever you like on the banana using a toothpick. It's hard to see at first but within an hour (& certainly by lunchtime) the message will darken.

It's great for conversation too so it could get them talking to whoever's sitting around them when they notice it.

Cheers!
-Heather @ http://www.findthatwarmfuzzyfeeling.blogspot.com/