Back to School: Lunchboxes

August 29, 2013

written by Cathy Baker, mom of two sweet tweens, living in the heartland of Missouri

With Back to School, comes the chore of packing up school lunch boxes every day!

First, let me confess. I’m not super-mom. I don’t do amazing things in my kids lunch boxes every day. But once a week or so, I usually try to at least put a note or something in the lunchbox to make them smile, or let them know I’m thinking of them during the day.

They are getting older, I don’t really want to embarrass my 7th grader (and can someone please tell me how I so quickly became the mom of a 7th grader!! #yearsflyingby #nopausebutton), but she still appreciates small gestures that let her know I’m thinking of her too!

So I was searching for some new ideas, and here are some things I found, I thought I’d share with you.

This is such a great idea for kid's lunch boxes for #back to school! Plan ahead and order some #Uppercase Living chalk or dry erase #vinyl! http://www.WhenWallsTalk.com

Love this idea of putting the vinyl chalkboards onto the top of sandwich containers. I can picture the notes now, “Good luck on your science test!” “Yay! It’s Friday!” “Don’t forget, you are amazing!”

I believe UpperCase Living sells chalkboard vinyl or you can buy “chalkboard vinyl” at etsy. Here’s one example that is currently for sale on etsy.. The one thing I do wonder is how well they will hold up with washing. I still think it’s worth a try!

I adore this idea from Whimsy Love and do believe this is the next thing I try! I still love I spy and think my 5th grader would definitely love to play this game!

How clever (and healthy!)! Write with a toothpick on a banana, within an hour the message will appear, so they can read it at lunch time! Cute Food For Kids has some other cute drawing ideas for bananas!

You can also draw faces on oranges, especially cute at Halloween time!

I love these FREE Printable Lunchbox survey questions from Giver’s Log. Easy to print up and keep in kitchen drawer to toss in their lunchbox from time to time! I love seeing their answers when I clean out their lunch boxes too!

If you are looking for more lunch box ideas, here are some previous articles featured on the Good Stuff Guide that may inspire you, as well!

Speaking of back to school lunches — hope you are able to sneak away for lunch with a friend and catch up now that your little ones are back in school!