Making lunch times fun
Lunch times…. while we don’t need packed lunches for school every day, we still have plenty of home-ed groups and daytrips that require us to take lunch with us. Soggy sandwiches are never very appealing are they?! I’m all for creating a more imaginative lunch, that is still healthy and doesn’t mean spending a fortune. I have an aptly named Pinterest board – ‘Lunch Ideas‘ filled with inspiration – mostly in the form of Bento boxes. My girls love this sort of lunch, lots of different little bits, in there VERY OWN box! Armed with lots of inspiration, we hit the supermarket to buy some supplies.
The girlies all had ideas on what they wanted to create, so we ended up making three different Bento boxes, personalised to each of their specifications :)
Lola’s box – flower, ham and cheese flowers, raisins, apple + blackberry clusters, frube and a fruit kebab
Baya’s box {a.k.a my fussy eater} – Hello Kitty cheese sandwich, satsuma flower, crackers and cheese flowers, yogurt and two biscuits as a ‘treat’. She actually ate all of this, normally she won’t eat a sandwich, or only a bite or two, hence the crackers as well! Obviously cutting it into a cute shape worked!
Kiki’s box – no surprises that Kiki opted for a piggy theme! She’s obsessed. Piggy sandwich {made from a tortilla wrap} filled with ham {ha!}, apple clusters, fruit salad and a {piggy} yogurt to go with it.
The lunches were a huge hit. The kiddos were excited to eat them, and ate every bite. Baya ate everything, and she is so fussy and not a big eater. Kiki was just happy to have pig sandwiches, and Lola ate the fruit and that kiddo likes to complain about eating fruit.
We’re already coming up with more ideas for Bento Box lunches. They are a great way to make lunch times more exciting, to encourage children to eat healthily and to try new things. It’s far nicer to open a box full of fun-looking, delicious foods for your lunch than just a sandwich and satsuma for the fifth time that week.
Five Tips for fun lunch boxes:
+ Mix it up – vary what you offer through the week, no-one wants the same lunch every single day
+ Use cookie cutters to make sandwiches into interesting shapes
+ Add in something that the child normally wouldn’t try – such as some kiwi mixed in with their strawberries, or fruit or vegetable crisps.
+ Kebab sticks make fruit or vegetable chunks look far more appealing!
+ Add in a little treat, a couple of biscuits or a homemade muffin
What are your kids favourite things to have in their lunchbox?
11 Comments
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Slummy single mummy
September 9, 2013 at 13:51These look great! My daughter’s main problem is that she eats so slowly! Sometimes at home she will literally pick crumbs off a sandwich to eat – it’s soooo frustrating. I wonder if doing something like this, where everything is already in bite size pieces, would help?
polly
September 9, 2013 at 13:54It might be worth a go, Baya eats pretty slowly, this seemed to take her far less time than normal to eat :)
Jess
September 9, 2013 at 13:56These are so cute – and I love the irony of the ham in the piggy sandwiches! :)
Jess xo
polly
September 9, 2013 at 21:09I know right?! Pigs are her favourite animal, but she really loves ham and bacon!
Where Roots And Wings Entwine
September 13, 2013 at 14:27These are so cute, I love the little Hello Kitty adorable! I keep saying I need to try making Bento lunchboxes.
Abi
September 13, 2013 at 16:18I love the ham and cheese flowers! I did the shop too, bento boxes are great fun!
Abi
sonia constant
September 13, 2013 at 18:25They look great :) Love the fussy eaters one :) x
Capture by Lucy
September 15, 2013 at 15:44I love the fruit kebabs! Thanks for linking up with #BentoBabies
Sam
September 18, 2013 at 10:06I love the bentos, especially the piggy themed one. I didn’t know Percy pigs now come in a yoghurt, my daughter will absolutely love those!
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