Back to School Bento Lunch

First Day of Second Grade Lunch!

Yesterday was Eliana's First day of SECOND grade. WOW. When did that happen?! I feel like the summer went by SO fast, even though at many times it felt so slow. I'm so excited to be starting up this new school year and happy to be making fun lunches again!

I made Eliana a super simple and fun lunch to celebrate her first day. The night before she was saying she was so nervous so I made sure to add this Lunchbox Love note to remind her to do her best! Thankfully once we dropped her off she saw her best friend and met her teacher she completely lost all jitters! She will normally take the bus but on the first day we like to bring her in. 

I packed Eliana some My Super Foods honey cookies, kiwi, blueberries, A pencil sandwich and sliced plum.  To make the pencil sandwich I just used a knife and cut the bread. On top is cheddar cheese and ham, "glued" on with a little bit of honey. I cut out the word Second out of the cheddar with my alphabet cutters set. She also had some Enjoy Life Foods mini chocolate chips in the section underneath her Lunchbox Love Note. Her lunch was packed in her PlanetBox :)

So all in all, the first day went GREAT! We were ready on time, lunch packed the night before, everything checked and double checked. She came home happy, full of energy, and excited for this new year. It was great! Now the Second Day? That's a whole different story...

Creative Food Supplies:

  

*Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links*
Linking up here :)

For more Creative Fun Food stay connected!

Facebook :: Pinterest :: Instagram :: Twitter :: Google +

Shark Bento

Watch out! Shark attack!

I am so excited to share my review of the lastest bento book out there: Happy Bento!: Lunches on the Go with you today!

First off, Let me start by saying I am SO proud of Anna of Becoming a Bentoholic! Her book, Happy Bento!: Lunches on the Go, just came out and it is fantastic! There are 50 different bentos, tons of large photos, step by step instructions, and tutorials jammed pack in this small book (I LOVE the size!). There are many wonderful and healthy ideas to give you lunch inspiration! It is a great source if you are looking for school lunch ideas and to add variety to your lunch packing routine. 

My favorite chapter is of course the FUN bentos. I am all about making fun and creative food! I couldn't wait to recreate some of these fun lunches so I had Eliana go through and pick one. We ended up picking the shark bento, which we both loved.

In this shark bento, inspired by Happy Bento!, Eliana has goldfish crackers, homegrown cherry tomatoes (in a silicone cup) and a shark sandwich swimming in a sea of blueberries. The sandwich was ham and cheese, and I used a mini chocolate chip for his eye.

We were really happy with how he turned out! The step by step instructions and photo tutorial really helped and I was able to make him so quickly! Photo tutorials are always such a big help for me. This took about ten minutes (including interruptions from the kiddos and washing the fruit!) Eliana LOVED the Shark bento and was already figuring out what we should make next :)

The great thing about Happy Bento is that even if you don't have everything exactly the same you can still make the lunch and use it as a source of inspiration.  I don't have a lot of the exact cutters, punches, or silicone cups that were used in some of the bentos, but I can easily recreate the lunches using what I have at home.

All in all, this is a great source of bento inspiration! SO happy for you Anna-- Happy Bento! is a wonderful book and an amazing accomplishment! Congratulations on your first book!

Creative Food Supplies:

*Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links*

**Disclosure:  I was sent this book for the purpose of this review.  As always, all opinions expressed in this post are my own**

Linking up here :)

For more Creative Fun Food stay connected!

Facebook :: Pinterest :: Instagram :: Twitter :: Google +

Simple St. Patrick's Day Fruit Snacks

Looking for some really simple, easy, and HEALTHY St. Patrick's Day Snacks?

St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner! I've always loved the month of March and St. Patrick's Day. I say it every year, but its true! Eliana was due on St. Patrick's Day and it will always be a fun holiday we enjoy together each year. We don't usually go all out for other "smaller" holidays..or even some big ones too. But every March we have certain traditions. First we always get our once a year box of Lucky Charms (I don't ever buy sugary cereal, except this one time a year). Then we usually make (and enjoy) a lot of fun St. Patrick's Day lunches and snacks. Then Eliana gets a little gift (like shamrock necklaces or St. Patrick's Day pencils), even though her birthday is a few days before, and I always wear my lucky shamrock socks that were given to me right before Eliana was born. They are simple and small traditions but I look forward to them every year :)

This year we made some simple, easy, and HEALTHY snacks to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!  These snacks work great as an after school snack, in addition to a school lunch, or as a classroom snack!

Green Fruit Salad 

For the Green Fruit Salad we took our favorite green fruits and made a fruit salad. I cut up honeydew, kiwi, green grapes and a granny smith apple. You can either toss in lime juice (another green fruit!) or toss apple in Fruit-Fresh to keep from browning.

You can also stick a cute St. Patrick's day pick in it and make it even more decorative! Please note that the words aren't blurry on each pick.. that is my camera and I didn't realize til we ate it all up and the fruit was gone haha :)

Green Fruit Kabobs

To make these Green Fruit Kabobs I layered half of a green grape, a piece of honeydew, kiwi and then the other half of the green grape so that each kabob could stand on its own.

Eliana loved having the Green Fruit Salad and a Kabob in her school lunch! She also had cucumber slices and a layered ham and cheese on a spinach tortilla sandwich.

 Rainbow Fruit Kabobs

For the Rainbow Fruit Kabobs I used my Shamrock Cupcake Picks and put cut watermelon, cantaloupe and pineapple on them. I tried to cut each fruit roughly the same, but I just eyeballed it. These could stand on their own too. This was an after school snack for Eliana but Samantha tried to take all the watermelon while I was cutting it.. I'm lucky there was any watermelon left! haha ;) These would also work great in a school lunch; with or without the pick.

Packed in her EasyLunchboxes Eliana had some Rainbow Fruit Salad, Cucumber slices in a silicone cup, half a wowbutter sandwich and a wee little bit of Lucky Charms cereal in the little green cup. I used a mini heart cutter to make a four leaf clover cut out in her sandwich.

These were such simple, easy, and healthy St. Patrick's Day food ideas that my kids LOVED.

Hope your kids love them too! :)

Creative Food Supplies:

*Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links*
Linking up here :)

For more Creative Fun Food stay connected!

Facebook :: Pinterest :: Instagram :: Twitter :: Google +