4th of July Bento

Yes, it is true, my kids go to school during the summer.  It is mostly summer camp with a month of actual school thrown in!   I pack lunches year round!

To celebrate American Independence Day, I made the kids a patriotic lunch.  It consisted of an open-face harvarti sandwich with USA gummy letters on it, some salami slices, grapes and some raisins.

Easter Bento

A quick Easter bento for both kids.  Lunch contains cheese cut-outs on a Hawaiian roll, a hard boiled egg decorated with food safe markers, some grapes and strawberries.

St. Patrick's Day Bento

I know, technically, St. Patrick's Day is on Saturday.  However, I had a cute idea, so I ran with it!

The kids had an open-faced shamrock cheese sandwich, ham rolls secured with a cute pick, cinnamon toast cereal, and a piece of marshmallow rainbow leading to a marshmallow pot of gold!  They also had a yogurt.  

I don't usually give the kids sweet treats in their lunches unless I do themed bento lunches, then they hit the jackpot!

Car Bento

This bento was part of the Valentine bento run, but Mr. W got a Cars theme instead!

I still hadn't learned the "punch the bread out before filling it" lesson. I created the details on McQueen by coloring the raised areas of the cutter with food-safe markers before pressing out the sandwich.

Lunch also consisted of Cars fruit snacks, grapes and a small piece of chocolate for afternoon "junk snack"

A Variety of Valentine Bentos

These bentos were made in the days leading up to Valentine's day.  The kids each got a similar lunch, even if only one is pictured.

I learned a valuable lesson with this bento, press the design before filling the sandwich!  Lunch contains rwo PB&J hearts, grapes, fruit snacks and a small chocolate heart.  I am sure there was something else in her lunch bag too...

 Lunches this day consisted of a a cheese sandwich on a sandwich thin, strawberries and chocolate covered pretzels.

This bento contains chunks of roasted chicken, a slice of homemade bread with butter, a jello heart and my guess is a tasty treat under the heart wrapper!

Sorry for the blurry pic! Lunch here was half a banana (decorated with a sticker), peanut butter sandwiches with heart fruit leather pieces, chocolate pretzels and a chocolate heart.  The kids also got a yogurt. Given the amount of sugar in this lunch, I am guessing this was Valentine's Day!   

Fishy Bento

Identical bentos made in two-tier boxes   The bottom tier consists of a sandwich round with a cheese fish, the word "fish" in gummy letters, and some teriyaki meatballs.  The top tier has strawberries, grapes and goldfish.

Panda Cookie!

Dinosaurs and Pandas. While not technically Lunar New Year themed, my kids enjoyed it!  Lunch consists of a PB & J sandwich, pretzels, strawberries and a panda cookie from Sogo Bakery.

Lunar New Year Bento

Gung Hay Fat Choy!  Happy Year of the Dragon!

I tried to make a cute dragon bento for the first school lunch of the New Year.  Unfortunately, it looked more like a hungry caterpillar!  I guess that is what I get for deciding to do a dragon at 11 pm the night before.... Next year, maybe I will plan better.  Or maybe I will wait for an easier zodiac sign.  Dog, rabbit....anyone....

 Anxious Dragon

The kids' lunches are identical.  They consist of a deconstructed "dragon" cheese sandwich, a strawberry, a clementine and a fortune cookie.  Below the red napkin is an applesauce pouch.

Perturbed Dragon

Christmas Bentos

Rudolph cheese sandwich with cheese stars, pretzel antlers and an m&m nose.  Hedgehog sandwich and strawberries.

Candy cane sandwiches made using two kinds of cheese, deli ham, grapes and a little marshmallow snowman. 

Christmas tree cheese and crackers or hawaiian bread.  Teriyaki meatballs, grapes and Christmas Jello jigglers. 

Halloween Bentos and a cute boy

Some cute Halloween themed bento boxes for the kids.

The faces are ham sandwiches.  The tongue is made of ham and the eyes are marshmallows.  Scrabble Cheez-its, grapes and applesauce with chocolate sprinkles.  The boy did not like the "monster face" sandwich.

Easy Jack-o-Lantern sandwiches.  One is cheese, the other is peanut butter.  I used cutters from Williams-Sonoma.  Also included are grapes, pretzels (which look rather skull-like!) and fruit roll-ups.

Mummy Milk Box - I used electrical tape and googly eyes.

The Cutest little Jellyfish EVER!

Costume was made for under $5.  I bought a kids' cowboy hat from the thrift store.  I covered the hat with bubblewrap and some blue tissue paper.  The tenacles are made from strips of bubblewrap, streamers and metallic ribbon. 

A bunch of random bentos

My kids like to have choices when they eat.  They also like cute food.  I like having re-usable containers and packing lunches that produce less waste.  Hence, cute bento boxes.  They aren't super-fancy, but they get the job done!

Doggie Cheese sandwich lunch.

This is our standard lunch, deli meat, cheese, hawaiian roll and fruit.

B week at school. 

My boy got a B lunch too!

C week at school

This must have been a lunch in October.  Note the orange and black sprinkles on the pretzels.

Christmas Lunches

Couple of cute holiday meals for the kids. Note the fancy, vintage plates! The gold trim plate is 1900's pre-war Germany.  The fish plate dates from the 1950's.   Yes, I let my kids eat off these plates. You cannot enjoy stuff you don't use!  

Halloween Lunch

Ok, not the best photo, but it is the only one I have. This is a little lunch I made for the kids to celebrate Halloween. Cheese on toast (cut out free-hand!) and some Scrabble Cheez-its!