There are lots of days that I aspire to achieve lunchbox fame, and there are some days that my goal is simply to get lunches done and get everyone to school on time. This post is entirely made up of the latter. These are the lunchboxes that I am generally not very excited to share, but I decided to do so anyway so you can get a feel for what the simple “every day” lunches are like in our house. They are not always creative or exceptionally nutritious, but they are healthier than convenience food and still have some fun in them. These are primarily sandwiches or leftovers and the kids are generally offered some role in designing or assembling them. Hopefully, these lunches will give you some fun ideas for simple lunches that can be made in a few minutes as you’re going through the morning scramble.
The lunch above contains the remains of a party we had at our house. It has a slice of someone’s homemade banana bread, Tostitos Scoops, a mini-dipper of Salsa, and some bits of cheese that were leftover from another day’s star lunch (you can see the cutouts!). There are grapes, oranges, cucumbers, and sugar snap peas in the small compartments.
My son really wanted an elephant lunch recently, so I made these sandwiches using our Critter Cutters lunch punches. Little Dude’s has a babybel cheese with a star cut into the wax and it is on a heart pick. He said it was a sign for the elephant circus. Girlie has ants on a log and a little bit of trail mix. Both kids have strawberries, grapes, and pirate booty.
Little Dude’s class recently went on a fantasy trip to France, complete with passports, luggage, airport security, and the make-believe airplane ride! I love how his school really goes the extra mile on fun details on every unit they present. I made him an airplane lunch to go along with the air travel themed day. He has a cheese sandwich, grapes, strawberries, and yogurt.
Girlie made this lunch herself! It is Sunbutter and Jam heart sandwiches with grapes. She decorated the sandwiches with the food coloring markers and added this “caring” cut-out that came with a stuffed animal toy she was given. You were supposed to put the attributes you wanted to bestow upon the animal inside with the stuffing, but I guess caring was not one of the traits she chose. Instead, she generously gave it to herself in her lunchbox! She has strawberries with a heart pick and yogurt in the small compartments.
This is another SunButter and Jam sandwich and I used a Sand*Wishes Lunch Punch to cut the design. I filled the center of the sandwich with blueberries and the sides are lined with cheese. The also has strawberries, grape tomatoes, and sugar snap peas.
And while I am showing my Easy LunchBoxes love, I am also excited to unveil my new arts & crafts hobby: Rainbow Loom! My daughter got one of these rubber band bracelet kids and I wanted to play too! Instead of making bracelets, I made some bento straps! I made one headband for our kotobuki panda, and a few of these Easy Lunchbox straps too. They are great for when you don’t need to keep the lunch cool, but want to be certain that the lid doesn’t accidentally open. I am nervous to throw mine straight into a backpack, but the strap makes it much more secure now.
What else do you make when you’re in a hurry? Sandwiches are always my default, but I’d love any other fun ideas!
Here are the products I used in this post:
This lunch is linked at:
