Birthday School Lunch

For my daughter's lunch on her birthday I wanted to make it special for her, so I packed a kiss sandwich, some oranges, an apple juice and even some birthday cake!

Kiss Sandwich:
Ingredients:
- Honey wheat bread, or whatever kind your family prefers
- Sandwich fillers of your choosing, I used SunButter and a chocolate hazelnut spread because that's my daughters favorite
- Lips shaped cookie cutter
- Pink or red food safe marker

Just prepare the sandwich how you normally would, I like to lightly toast the bread as a first step so it's easier to work with. Once you've got it assembled use your lips shaped cookie cutter to shape it. Finally, take your food safe marker and trace around the edges and in the middle to make the sandwich look even more like a set of real lips giving a kiss! Takes only minutes to prepare and it's sure to put a smile on your little ones face.

As I said also in the lunch was mandarin oranges, an Honest Kid's Organic apple juice, a piece of birthday cake (perfectly acceptable and so much fun for a birthday school lunch, kids will love this special treat!), and a "happy bday! :)" heart shaped note.

Christmas Tree & Snowman School Lunch

'Tis the season for festive school lunches! I made this one with the hopes of getting my daughter in the Christmas spirit (as if she isn't already) when she opens her lunch at school!

Christmas Tree Sandwich:
Ingredients:
- Honey Wheat Bread
- Sandwich fillers of your choosing (I used SunButter and a chocolate hazelnut spread because those are my daughters favorites)
- Food safe markers
- A Christmas tree cookie cutter

All you need to do to make this sandwich is lightly toast your bread (optional, but it makes it easier to work with), assemble it how you normally would and then use a Christmas tree cookie cutter to get the shape you're looking for! To make it look even more like a tree all decorated for Christmas, use some food safe markers to add some green around the edges, and some strings of lights/ornaments, perhaps a star on top. It can be made in just minutes and looks so festive and adorable!

Cheese Stick Snowman:
Ingredients:
- Cheese stick
- Sharpies (black, orange, and blue)

All you need to do to make this is take your cheese stick (still in the wrapper of course) and use the Sharpies to decorate it like a snowman. Such an easy and adorable thing to do!

Also included in this lunch was:
- Green grapes (green for Christmas, combined with strawberries would be cute too for that red and green vibe, but ours were nasty looking so I left them out and threw them away instead!)
-  An Honest Kids Organic Apple Juice

Yogurt Treat School Lunch

With this school lunch I made it possible for my daughter to mix some yogurt and strawberries together to create a little parfait, as well as included sandwich squares, cheese balls and an apple juice.

Make Your Own Yogurt Parfait:
Ingredients:
- Berries, I used strawberries
- Yogurt, I used banana
- Granola or another topper if you'd like to add that as well, I didn't for this one

All you have to do to pack a Make Your Own Yogurt Parfait for your child is pack a container of yogurt, any flavor will do, some berries, and any other toppings you want. Pack them in their own separate appropriate sized containers. I put the strawberries in a container where there was plenty of room left for her to add in her yogurt. If you're going to pack granola or another topper put it in a condiment or dressing container. This way when your kiddo opens their lunch box they'll be able to assemble their own yogurt parfait.

Sandwich Squares:
Ingredients:
- Bread
- Your sandwich fillers (use whatever your kiddo likes, I used SunButter and chocolate hazelnut spread
- A FunBites cutter, you can purchase one here

Step 1: Lightly toast your bread (or not, but it's what I like to do when I'm working with spreads and cutters)
Step 2: Assemble the sandwich with whatever you've chosen
Step 3: Use your FunBites cutter and you'll have some perfect little squares in no time!

Step 4: Stick the squares on the food picks.

Also included in this lunch was an Honest Kids Organic Apple Juice, and a pack of Halloween Mini Cheese Balls.

Yummy, Fruity School Lunch

Included in this bento style lunch is:
- watermelon cut into sticks
- animal cookies
- Strawberry & Honey Goat Cheese Skewers
- Puzzle Sandwich

Strawberry & Honey Goat Cheese Skewers:
Ingredients:
- Strawberries
- Honey Goat Cheese
- Cute food picks, like these

All you need to do to make these is cut up some strawberries and cut up some honey goat cheese and skewer them, two strawberries with a piece of honey goat cheese in the middle per food pick. Super tasty, fun and healthy to eat and they can be made in minutes.

Puzzle Sandwich:
Ingredients:
- Honey wheat bread
- SunButter
- Chocolate hazelnut spread
- Puzzle sandwich cutter, like the one that comes in this pack

I like to lightly toast the bread, assemble it like normal, and then use the cutter to make it into the fun puzzle shape.

Salad & Sandwich School Lunch

For this school lunch I packed a sandwich and a salad, as well as some pears, an apple juice and a cloth napkin.

My Daughter's Favorite Salad Recipe:
Ingredients:
- Romaine lettuce
- Imo's cheese
- One of these 3 dressings: Imo's, raspberry vinaigrette, or honey mustard vinaigrette

When I pack a salad for a school lunch, I pack the dressing in these cute little dressing containers so my daughter can put it on herself when she's ready. This way the lettuce doesn't get soggy and it's fresh, and it's also fun for her to be a part of assembling the lunch once she goes to eat it.

Puzzle Sandwich:
Ingredients:
- Honey wheat bread
- SunButter
- Chocolate hazelnut spread
- Puzzle sandwich cutter, like the one that comes in this pack

I like to lightly toast the bread, assemble it like normal, and then use the cutter to make it into the fun puzzle shape.

For the pears, I just cut them up into bite-sized pieces and put them in a container with a little zebra food pick stuff in them for extra cuteness.

Fall Themed School Lunch #6

For this school lunch of my daughter's I wanted to include lots of fall themed details, and they were mostly all edible details! Plus a cute little "mummy loves you!" note with a jack-o-lantern sticker on it. If you're interested in the details for this lunch look below! 

Included in this lunch:
- Pumpkin Sandwich (recipe below)
- Jack-o-lantern Mandarin Oranges (recipe below)
- Trader Joe's Halloween Joe Joe's Cookies
- Trader Joe's pumpkin yogurt, with some chocolate sprinkles on top

Pumpkin Sandwich:
Ingredients:
- Bread of your choosing
- Sandwich fillings of your choosing, pumpkin butter would be a particularly fun and theme fitting choice for this sandwich
- A pumpkin cutter
- An orange food safe marker

Step 1: Lightly toast your bread to get it ready to work with. Just a very light toasting is good! It helps when using spreads and when working with cutters.

Step 2: Assemble your sandwich however you would like with whatever fillings you've chosen.

Step 3: Use your pumpkin cutter to create a pumpkin shape.

Step 4: Use your orange food safe marker to give your pumpkin an outline and some detailing on it. The color didn't show up too great in the picture, but you get the idea!

Jack-o-lantern Mandarin Oranges:
Ingredients:
- Mandarin oranges
- A black food safe marker

Step 1: All you need to do for these little cuties is grab the oranges and the marker and draw a cute little jack-o-lantern face on them.

Hope you're inspired to create a fun fall themed lunch now for your kiddo with some of these ideas! For more fall lunch inspiration click here.

Fall Themed School Lunch #5

Here's another simple lunch idea that's easy to put together, tasty, nutritious, cute and fall themed! For more details on this lunch look below, and for my previous school lunch posts click here. 

Included in this lunch was:
- 2 pumpkin muffins, wrapped in bat liners and with jack-o-lantern picks stuck in them for Halloween cuteness!
- An orange reusable baking liner filled up with Imo's cheese. The orange pop of color adds to the fall/Halloween theme in a really nice, simple way!
- An apple that she picked herself (can't get much more fall than that!)
- Honest Kids Organic Appley Ever After juice
- I also threw in a Cascadian Farms Organic granola bar in case my daughter wanted anything else
- For some extra cuteness, to make reading fun, and to make her smile I added in a "mommy loves you!" note with a jack-o-lantern drawn on it.

Fall Themed School Lunch #4

This lunch was one of those throw it together in a few minutes before you run out the door lunches, but it still qualifies as a simple, cute, and healthy fall themed school lunch. The use of simple seasonal food items, and cute holiday food picks can make any lunch festive. 

In this lunch I packed:
- Pumpkin muffins, with some jack-o-lantern food picks stuck in, and wrapped in liners that had bats on them (making it Halloweeny)
- A banana
- Some grapes with a happy little jack-o-lantern food pick
- Honest Kids Organic Appley Ever After juice

This lunch took just minutes to put together (having made the muffins ahead of time, of course). You can make your own pumpkin muffins from scratch, or use a boxed mix. I used the Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread/Muffins mix. They always turn out delicious! Everything else I added was to make sure my little one had enough to eat, and felt festive and excited for Halloween while she was eating! Details as simple as patterned liners and food picks can make all the difference when trying to prepare a themed lunch, and they take just seconds to add!

Fall Themed School Lunch #3

For a lot of my Fall themed lunches this month I'm trying to make them look Halloweeny. For this one I found a spooky idea on Pinterest and used it, with a few of my own ideas as well. For more details look below, and to view my other Fall themed lunches click here.

In this lunch I packed:
- sandwich squares, made Halloweeny with some jack-o-lantern food picks.
- a little container of mandarin oranges, which I tried to draw a jack-o-lantern face on but my marker wouldn't work because they had been in the fridge. So if you're wanting to put a spooky face on your mandarin oranges, leave them out of the fridge.
- Used Band Aids, the idea I got from Pinterest. I used honey graham crackers, Trader Joe's whipped cream cheese, and some strawberry jam to make them.
- A few Trader Joe's pumpkin spice cookies
- A package of pita bite crackers and hummus
- Some Trader Joe's Orange Peach Mango juice in a little container with a skeleton straw to go with it

Sandwich Squares:
Ingredients:
- Bread
- Your sandwich fillers (use whatever your kiddo likes, I used SunButter and chocolate hazelnut spread
- A FunBites cutter, you can purchase one here

Step 1: Lightly toast your bread (or not, but it's what I like to do when I'm working with spreads and cutters)
Step 2: Assemble the sandwich with whatever you've chosen
Step 3: Use your FunBites cutter and you'll have some perfect little squares in no time!
Step 4: Stick the squares on some jack-o-lantern food picks, or other Halloween food picks for added cuteness and holiday fun!

Fall Themed School Lunch #2

As I mentioned in my last school lunch post I plan on posting Fall themed lunches for the season. I talked about ways that you can make a lunch fall themed with the use of cutters, food picks, and seasonal items. You can view all of my fall themed school lunches here. For this lunch I packed a simple lunch, with a seasonal food item, some jack-o-lantern food picks, and other orange details. Nothing too extravagant but still cute for fall, tasty and healthy! For details look below!

Included in this lunch is:
- honey goat cheese, in an orange reusable baking cup with jack-o-lantern food picks stuck in
- a brown sugar cinnamon mini bagel, with some pumpkin cream cheese in an orange dip container, along with a child-safe knife for spreading
- pretzel sticks
- a banana apple sauce pouch

Fall Themed School Lunch

We are so excited that it's Fall! There's so many fun things to do with Fall themed lunches. There's lots of ways to make a Fall themed lunch due to the fact that there are holidays to celebrate, seasonal foods, changing colors, and all sorts of fun things going on. Think of those things as you make your kiddos lunch and you'll be sure to find inspiration! For extra inspiration to help you along the way I'm going to be posting the Fall themed lunches I'll be making! Here's the first one! 

In this lunch I packed:
- A ghost sandwich (recipe below)
- Pretzel sticks
- Monster Mandarins (recipe below)
- Black Forest Little Monsters fruit snacks
- Pumpkin Pie Smoothie (recipe below)
- A note, to encourage those developing reading skills and put a smile on my girls face. Using black or orange paper in October is a great idea to keep with the theme. I'm sure you could also find little note paper shaped like pumpkins, leafs, cats, etc. for added cuteness. I chose to call my little pumpkin in the note by drawing a pumpkin. These little details add to the Fall theme.
- To add to the Fall theme: a jack-o-lantern straw, and a jack-o-lantern fork. Luckily I had these items on hand, but they can be found at Target if you don't.
- Cloth napkin and ice packs of course. I just used ones we always use, as we don't have themed ones. I'm sure they exist though if you're interested. I've been thinking about ordering a set of holiday themed cloth napkins so we'll always have one for the holidays.

Ghost Sandwich:
Ingredients: 
- Bread
- Sandwich fillings (I used SunButter and a chocolate hazelnut spread
- A ghost shaped cutter
- A black food safe marker

Assemble your sandwich however you normally would, and use the cutter to produce a ghost shape. Once you've got that use the black food safe marker to draw on a little ghost face. Boo!

Monster Mandarins:
Ingredients:
- Mandarin oranges
- Eye food picks, which you can find here

This is a great example of how it can be super easy to make lunch adorable. I try to keep most things simple like this so they can be done by busy parents like myself. All you need to do to make Monster Mandarins is put some mandarin oranges into a container and then stick in some of the eye food picks. Viola!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie:
Ingredients:
- Pumpkin puree
- Almond milk (or whatever kind of milk you'd prefer)
- Pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 a banana

Add all the above ingredients into a blender and blend it up until you have a yummy smoothie. Adding more milk or more banana as needed to adjust the thickness. I didn't measure the amount of pumpkin puree I used, or how much milk I used. I just added in what I thought I would need to make enough for my daughter's smoothie and have some left over as well, so it'll vary for everyone. Just do what you feel and you'll have a delicious seasonal drink in the lunch box in no time. I added in a jack-o-lantern straw to really up the cuteness and stick to the theme.

Get ready for lots of super cute, healthy, and fun Fall themed school lunches!

Star Student Lunch

I wanted to make my daughter a special lunch when she earned the honor of being Star Student of the Week. So I packed a star shaped sandwich, some yogurt with sprinkles, mandarin oranges, a pack of Annie's Organic fruit snacks, a string cheese, and an Honest Kids Organic Appley Ever After juice.

Super simple to make! I just put everything in the appropriate cute little containers. To make the sandwich I just assembled a sandwich how I normally would and then used a star shaped cookie cutter. To view my previous school lunch posts click here.

Kindergarten School Lunch #14

I mention FunBite cutters a lot in my school lunch posts, but I normally use the one that makes sandwich squares. For this school lunch I used the one that makes sandwich triangles! You can purchase one here. 

Isn't this lunch super cute? I just love it! I included sandwich triangles, cut up strawberries, Trader Joe's Organic Mini Cheese Sandwich Crackers, and a Trader Joe's Organic Yogurt Squisher.

To make this lunch super cute I used the methods I usually do, cute food containers and accessories! Such an easy way to make lunch fun and cute without having to put in a ton of effort. I put the strawberries in heart shaped reusable baking cups. I also put in an owl patterned cloth napkin, with an owl fork to match.

Kindergarten School Lunch #13

This school lunch couldn't have been more simple, but it's still cute! Sometimes you can be in an extra hurry, like I was the morning I made this, and still make it a lunch that will put a smile on your kiddos face with the help of a simple sandwich cutter. 

Packed in this lunch:
- Elephant sandwiches (make a sandwich how you normally would, and then use a cute sandwich cutter to spruce it up a bit) You can find the elephant cutters in a 3 pack here.
- Some cut up strawberries
- A cheese stick
- Honest Kids Organic Appley Ever After juice pouch
- A cloth napkin with a cute design (another way to add cuteness to a lunch, and it's practical, as well as good for the environment)

To view more of my school lunch posts click here.

Kindergarten School Lunch #12

Do your kiddos have a favorite character? If so, sometimes you can get lucky and find a sandwich cutter of that character. I found a Minnie Mouse one and used it for this lunch, making it super cute! For more details on this lunch keep on scrolling and for my previous lunch posts click here.

If you're looking for a character sandwich cutter try typing in the character you would like to find on Amazon, or looking at a store like Jo-Ann Fabrics. I found this Minnie Mouse one randomly at a grocery store, but I think you'd have better luck finding more varieties at those other stores.

Packed in this lunch was:
- A Minnie Mouse sandwich (just go ahead and make a sandwich however you normally would, and use whatever character cutter your kiddo would most like to see in their lunch)
- Some cut up strawberries, with a little monkey food pick stuck in them for added cuteness
- Honest Kids Organic Appley Ever After juice pouch
- A reusable baking cup filled with some cut up grapes and another cute little monkey food pick. Adding things to the lunch like colorful reusable baking cups, and animal food picks are simple, quick ways to add cuteness.
- Some Trader Joe's Organic Mini Cheese Sandwich Crackers

Kindergarten School Lunch #11

For this school lunch I combined several of my daughters delicious and nutritious favorites. Super simple to make, and fun to eat! Look below for more details on this lunch, and click here to view my previous school lunches. 

As I said I packed delicious and nutritious favorites. Those were sandwich squares, cut up fruit (kiwis and strawberries), a cheese stick, and an Honest Kids Organic Appley Ever After juice.

Sandwich Squares:
Ingredients:
- bread
- your sandwich fillers (I often use SunButter and some kind of jam or other spread along with it, you can use whatever stuff your kiddo likes)
- a FunBites cutter, you can purchase one here

Step 1: Lightly toast your bread (or not, but it's what I like to do when I'm working with spreads and cutters)
Step 2: Assemble the sandwich with whatever you've chosen.
Step 3: Use your FunBites cutter and you'll have some super cute little squares in no time.

Kindergarten School Lunch #10

This lunch includes a way to give your kiddo a kiss in the middle of their school day. So sweet and cute! Not to mention that it's tasty and healthy! For more details look below, and for my previous school lunch posts click here.  

 Packed in this lunch is:
- A lips shaped sandwich (the kiss!)
- Some mandarin oranges
- Some Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese Curds
- A Honest Kid's Organic Appley Ever After juice pouch
- of course a note from me, a cloth napkin, a fork, and the ice packs to keep the food cold as well

For the Kiss Sandwich:
- Assemble a sandwich however your kiddo likes
- Use a lip shaped cookie cutter (you can usually find these in packs of Valentine's Day cookie cutters), but I'm sure you could find one online as well
- Use a pink food marker to trace around the lips shape, and add a line in the middle to divide them

Kindergarten School Lunch #9

For this school lunch I made Sandwich Squares, and Honey Goat Cheese & Strawberry Skewers. I also packed some Trader Joe's Multigrain Pita Bite Crackers and hummus for dipping. 

For the Sandwich Square Skewers:
1. Grab your sandwich fixings and assemble it! So for me, I get some honey wheat bread, SunButter and Super Fruit Jam. I lightly toast the bread and then assemble the sandwich.
2. Once you've got it all made and ready, use a FunBites sandwich cutter that makes bite sized square pieces, you can get one here.
3. Next grab some food picks and add sandwich squares onto them. I fit three per food pick. And viola you're done and lunch is super fun to eat for your kiddo!

For the Honey Goat Cheese & Strawberry Skewers:
1. Gather up the ingredients, there's just two: honey goat cheese, and strawberries!
2. Cut both the honey goat cheese and the strawberries into small enough pieces. You want them bite-sized, but not too small either.
3. Slide the pieces onto your skewers in an alternating order. I went strawberry, honey goat cheese, strawberry for each one this time.

Kindergarten School Lunch #8

This school lunch is so fun! It's super cute, and packs in lots of tasty nutrients. If you'd like more details on how to recreate this lunch scroll down. To view my other school lunch ideas click here. 

As you can see I packed a puzzle shaped sandwich, some trail mix, fruit and an apple juice.

For the sandwich all you need to do is assemble a sandwich the way you typically would for your kiddos lunch. I like to use SunButter and Super Fruit Jam for a lot of sandwiches. Once you've got your sandwich made all you need to do is use one of these sandwich cutters to make the puzzle shape.

As for the trail mix and fruit you could replace them with any sides your kiddo likes of course. Or use any type of fruit or any type of trail mix. I used strawberries and blueberries for the fruit, and I used cashews, peanuts, raisins, and chocolates for the trail mix. 

To drink I put in a Honest Kids Organic Appley Ever After juice pouch. 

Kindergarten School Lunch #7

Here's a fun lunch that includes sandwich squares, crackers, hummus, oranges, and a juice. For more details keep on scrolling, and for my previous school lunch posts click here. 

I've probably given the recipe for Sandwich Squares quite a few times now, haha! But it's such a favorite for my daughter. She always finishes her whole sandwich when I serve it in this way. 

Sandwich Squares:

Step 1: Gather your sandwich ingredients and assemble the sandwich according to how your little one likes it. I lightly toasted some Sara Lee Honey Wheat bread, then I put SunButter on both slices and then some chocolate hazelnut spread on as well. Then of course I put the slices of bread together.

Step 2: Once you've got your sandwich made, use a FunBites sandwich cutter to make it into little squares.

Step 3: Put the Sandwich Squares onto some food picks, 3 fit on each. You could also toss the little squares into a reusable baking cup or something if you don't have any food picks. They are still fun to eat regardless of how they are served, I'm just always looking for simple ways to up the cute factor.

In this lunch I also packed a couple of little oranges, and some Trader Joe's Multigrain Pita Bite Crackers with some hummus in a little dip container. To drink I packed an Honest Kid's Organic Appley Ever After juice pouch.