Lunchbox look - Aug. 25 - 29, 2014

Most of this week's lunches do not use special tools and were assembled quickly during the hour-long feast that occurs daily after school. 

Nemo! I cut out a coloring page of Nemo and used my trusty X-acto knife to trace the design in cheese.  I used the same knife to freehand some seaweed in the cucumber peel. (That's a piece of silicone baran to separate the wet cucumber from the sandwich, but you could substitute a square of wax paper or just put the cucumber in a muffin cup.) I threw in some blueberries, Goldfish and a simple masking tape flag.

Legos! While the mini boxes are a special tool, I made the Lego picks by hot gluing plastic picks to real Lego bricks, and the box is a souvenir from Legoland. The silicone cups hold turkey, berries, mini cheese sandwiches and watermelon cubes. The mini Lego boxes are truly tiny and hold a single peanut butter pretzel and a few M&Ms.

Kid-made Marie! My daughter wanted to help make her lunch on this day and selected an Aristocats cookie cutter from our collection. She punched out two miniature sandwiches and used the back of the cutter to imprint the facial expressions - we only had thin slices of cheese so it was tricky to make the stamp without cutting all the way through. A bow pick completes her look! There's also blueberries, Goldfish and a mini Nilla wafer sandwich. The second tier has watermelon cubes - this bento container has a built-in fork. I forget I'm not the only one around here who likes making lunch!

Tinkerbell snack! I also pack a (non-cute) morning snack for my daughter and recently rediscovered this fun container in our stash. This miniature lunchbox originally held Chapstick but works great for some Ritz sandwiches and a handful of grapes. I don't go all-out for snacks, but I can't resist a cute container that does all the work for me.

Squirrel! My daughter has been asking for Hershey's-Kiss-and-Nilla-wafer "acorns" lately, so I surprised her with one in her lunch. To alleviate my guilt over the chocolate, there's a big pile of broccoli, strawberries and cheese cubes. Make sure to completely cool your broccoli before putting it in the box or else the sandwich will get soggy.

Doghouse! It's not often I reuse a container a week later, but when I saw these bone sprinkles in a Halloween display, I just knew I'd be pulling out the dog silicone cup again. A used an egg-shaped cookie cutter to make the entrance to the sandwich. There's also celery, strawberries, orange slices, a miniature corn dog, teeny cheese cubes and a box of raisins. I had meant to include a dog bone graham cracker, but the rest of the box must have been finished in an after school scavenge earlier in the week.

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Lunchbox look - Aug. 18-22, 2014

In a gentle but slightly condescending tone, my daughter informed me that last week's Painting the Roses Red lunch was a little sub-par. And thus last week's Alice in Wonderland theme spilled over into this week, like so much red paint on the Queen of Heart's ill-fated white roses.

Painting the Roses Red 2.0! Here we have a bucket of paint sandwich (the teensy paintbrush is my favorite) along with some red food - strawberries, grapes, granola bite, dried cherries and a few celery sticks for some crunch. The little dear was much happier with this rendition.

I'm late! This is the white rabbit's pocket watch - made quickly because I was, indeed, late. PBJ sandwich with various cheese toppers, nori clock hands, a bunny sprinkle in the center plus a few blueberries on a pick. The second tier is full of cantaloupe.

Card Guards! What I needed to make this work better was a large white heart sprinkle. Despite my extensive stash of sprinkles, this one I do not have. I'll have to keep my eyes out for them next Valentine's Day. In the meantime,  we have a stack of quesadilla cards with a side of blueberries, cucumber and popcorn chicken.

Dogs! What you see here is the side dish for a heated Thermos of leftover spaghetti. There's leftover garlic bread, a few mini meatballs, Parmesan cheese for sprinkling and some dog bone grahams. (The Thermos keeps food quite warm for several hours if you preheat it with boiling water for about 10 minutes, wipe it dry, then add hot food to it.)

Bespectacled chick! This is one of my favorite sandwiches ever. The glasses are meant to snap onto a straw (I found them in the check out lane at Michael's) so they stuck into the bread just enough to stay put. I freehanded the hair, but used a Fred cookie cutter for the outline. The eyes are giant Wilton candy eyes, layered with a green sprinkle for more detail. There's a little nose under the glasses, but it's mostly lost in shadow, and the lips are a Valentine's Day sprinkle. This lunch also has carrots, ranch dip in the pink container, blueberries, and a box of yogurt raisins accessorized with animal print washi tape.

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Lunchbox look - Aug. 11-15, 2014 - Alice in Wonderland week

I know it's crazy to cut Cheddar cheese slices into Cheshire cats and talking doorknobs, and yet I can't help myself sometimes! I like a self-imposed creative challenge, so this week was all Alice in Wonderland lunches. Down the rabbit hole we go ...

Doorknob! I drew a quick freehand template on an index card to make the doorknob, plus sprinkle eyes and a nori keyhole mouth. There's also grapes, a cucumber segment with a key design, apple slices and a box of raisins.

Cards! This one is on my redo list - surely there's a better way to show the cards painting the roses red. But here's the low-fi version - sandwich topped with cheese plus celery, strawberry hearts, leftover steamed broccoli with flower picks and a few grapes. 

Tea party! This is my favorite of the week. I freehanded the teacup. Then there's an Argyle cucumber, blueberries with a top hat pick, strawberries and a cup of lemon jello tea. The night before, I made jello and poured it straight into the silicone tea cup to set up.

Queen of Hearts! This was a quicky lunch. The queen's crown is pretty basic, so I added a few sprinkles. Then there's yogurt pretzels, steamed broccoli (cool completely before putting in the lunch box or else your sandwich will be completely soggy), a carved cucumber chunk, blueberries and a strawberry rose. To make the strawberry easier to eat, there's a pink crown fork at the top.

Cheshire cat (or Treasure cat if you're my toddler)! This was the most intricate of the week but it didn't take too long. I printed a Cheshire coloring page from the Internet and cut it out. After cutting the whole head, I added another layer with just the mouth. The eyes are sprinkles and his red nose is a rainbow chip. Then there's a few chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, blueberries and grapes, a tiny strawberry and Cheshire's stripey tail carved into cucumber.

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Lunchbox look - Aug. 4-8, 2014

School is already back in session, though I never really stopped packing lunches during the break. They were utilitarian - room temperature sandwiches and fruit tossed in our pool or beach bag, eaten with sunscreen-soaked fingers before heading back to the water. Not fancy, but was a bad meal ever eaten beachside? I don't think so, but this week's back-to-school lunches certainly are cuter.

Owl! We welcomed the school year with an owl sandwich, easily made with a circle cutter, yogurt pretzel, candy eyes, sprinkle nose and pick feet. There's also a tomato and celery sticks plus dried cherries and orange slices.

Snoopy! I used a cookie cutter to make this triple-deckler cheese sandwich and stuck on freehand fruit leather details. In the Snoopy container is peanut butter for dunking the celery. There's also raspberries, turkey on a pick and a few dog bone grahams.

Panda! Chocolate peanut butter makes a good contrast for the panda's sprinkle eyes. (The eyes are white Easter egg sprinkles and the black dots are from a Halloween sprinkle mix.) The bottom tier also holds celery sticks and teeny, hand-cut cheese cubes. The top tier holds blueberries, raspberries in a container so they don't get squished and a container holding two peanut butter pretzels.

Happy hearts! A better photographer could probably bounce the light so all of the smiles would be visible. The strawberry stems are upside down flower picks. The cheese sandwiches were all cut from the same piece of bread - the complete hearts go on top and any scraps that needed to be pieced together are hidden on the bottom. There's also carrots, turkey and raspberries, plus a side dish of strawberries.

Shark! I've made this shark lunch before but it's so easy and I had both blueberries and baby Goldfish on hand, so I had to make it again. The shark is made using a large egg-shaped cookie cutter - just use the top two-thirds. White heart picks form the teeth. There's also dried cherries and a little pail filled with turkey. Because there are so many loose pieces in this lunch, I topped it with a piece of deli paper before closing the lid to help it survive all the way to the cafeteria.

Snack! I also thought I'd show an example of what I pack for school snacks. This box is quite small - just big enough for a teacup-shaped silicone cup of crackers and a handful of blueberries on the side. I don't make classroom snacks cute, but a fun little cup doesn't take any effort.

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