Cute Lunch

I am behind on blogging.  No surprise.  Life is busy and all that.

Lately I have been following two great mommy blogs, Another Lunch and Meet the Dubiens.  Both blogs feature the idea of making "bento" style lunches.  Basic idea of bento is the lunch should be "waste free" (washable containers, etc) and have a "cuteness theme" for the lunch.  It comes from the idea of a sushi bento box.  Not being a fan of fish in general, I had to look this up.  It is a kind of "to go" box with small compartments with small portions of food.  The bento lunches are frequently themed with the CosPlay or Anime - type characters.  Both of these blogs take this and Americanize it.

Here are a few of my favorites from Another Lunch :   Angry Birds Bento ,  Muffin Tin Monday Halloween, Ducky Bento

Meet the Dubiens has bento lunches and also some cute arts & crafts projects for little kids.  Here are a few of my favorites:  DIY Kid Gifts, Fall Bento Boxes, Turkey Plate.

So, inspired, I have been trying to find ways to make Robbie's lunch a little bit more fun a couple of days a week.  Here is one of my beginning attempts:

Peanut Butter and Jellies in Space

 Using some small stickers, I made my own food picks and inserted them into some peanut butter and jelly stars.  I also decorated Robbie's juice pouch with his favorite space ranger.  Cheddar and mozzarella slices were punched into tiny stars and moons.

 The peanut butter and jelly stars were a learning experience.  I made them again later in the week and they were much improved.  I found that the cookie cutter does much better if you take rolling pin and flatten the bread a little bit before you fill with PBJ and try to punch it out.  I got 4 small stars from a sandwich, but there was a lot of waste, so I went ahead an made another set.

I punched out the cheese shapes using these teeny tiny cookie cutters that my mama gave me.  I use these a lot in Robbie's lunch already because he really enjoys it.

So I thought the lunch turned out really cute.  I was super proud of it.  When I went to pick up Robbie from school that day, I said, "Tell me, how did he like his lunch?"  Then I noticed he was wearing different clothes.  I found out that actually, his classroom had had kind of a bad day.  One of the other kids had gotten sick at the lunch table and Robbie (who is a sympathetic puker) immediately got sick too and then wouldn't eat anything.  Bummer.

I duplicated this lunch again a few days later and he seemed to really enjoy it.  This kind of prep really doesn't take very long to do and it is very easy if you have a plan.  I don't see this as an every day thing, but about once or twice a week seems fun.  I also love reading the blogs listed above and looking at the pictures for ideas about not just HOW to prepare the lunch but WHAT to send.  After a while, I just run out of ideas.  Reading these blogs has given me a spark of creativity.  A few nights ago, using an idea from Meet the Dubiens, I added some sprinkles on top of Robbie's vanilla yogurt at dinner.  He was so excited!  He ended up dipping his steamed broccoli into the yogurt and really cleaning his plate.  Win for mom!

I hope I can get some more pictures and ideas added on here as I try out some fun lunches.  Thanks for reading!  :)