Halloween Party Snacks!

Ghosties invading the pumpkin patch!

We got a call from the class parent asking us to bring in cheese and crackers for the class halloween party, so this is what we sent in :)

Pumpkins: Orange cheddar
Ghosts: White cheddar and food safe marker for eyes
Crackers: Organic multigrain and organic vegetable

(Everything had to be extra nut-free since there is a child with a nut allergy in Lily's class. Did you know there is a risk of nut traces in many types of crackers and also in cheese purchased from the deli? 

Lily and I sure had an interesting time shopping for these nut-free items!)

According to Lily though, these were a big hit :)

Halloween!

Lily's lunch for the friday before Halloween:

I didn't want to send too much, since I knew there was a party at school today, so here's what she got:

Ham and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat
Food-safe marker pumpkin outline
Icing sugar pumpkin design
Grapes
White and orange cheddar cheese ghost and pumpkin (faces drawn with food-safe marker)

I had a funny time with this one... it was my first time trying to use a stencil, and as you can see, it didn't exactly turn out. I placed the stencil over the sandwich and proceeded to sprinkle the powdered sugar, only to realize that it didn't look anything like the pumpkin stencil, so I tried to blow it off, only to make a huge mess, haha.

I ended up just drawing on a pumpkin and hoping for the best. 

She ate it anyway though, so at least that part didn't fail :) 

I haven't decided yet if I'll try more stencils or not. 

We'll see...

Rushed Hearts and Butterflies

An 'Eek we slept in!' Lunch:

(Lily, who never asks for themes, asked for hearts and butterflies, and since I only had about 5 minutes to throw this together, this is what she got, haha)

Ham and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat
Edible marker butterfly outline
Cheesy pretzel stick
Orange and white cheddar cheese scraps (from tomorrow's snack made ahead of time)
Dora and Scooby snacks
Cheesy heart crackers
Cucumbers (which if you look at the ends, looked like hearts)
Grapes

Barnyard Lunch

Barnyard Lunch:

Turkey and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat
Cheese slice horse and sun
Fruit leather rider and apple
Triscuit hay bales
Edible marker grass
Herbed havarti turkeys
Raisin and sunflower seed turkey feed
Apples (for the horse, of course)

Jungle Lunch

Jungle Lunch:

Turkey and cheese whiz on white bread
Cheese slice lion (with food-safe marker eye) and 'Roar!'
Spinach foliage
Carrot sticks
Grapes
Strawberries
Granola bar peices
Fruit leather leaves

Pumpkin Lunch

Pumpkin Lunch:

Turkey and cheese whiz sandwich on whole wheat
Cheese slice pumpkin with fruit leather nose and mouth, and plastic googley eyes
Fruit leather pumpkins
Snow pea bats
Rosemary and olive oil Triscuit crackers
Strawberry cereal bar pumpkins

Raisin and sunflower seed pumpkin-patch soil
Dried papaya skewer
Grapes skewers
Cherry tomato skewer

Witchy Lunch

Witch-Themed lunch:

Chicken and Cheese Sandwich on Whole Wheat
Grapes on Orange Picks
Snow Pea Bats
Fruit Leather Bat and Pumpkin
Cheese Slice Whitch and Green Sprinkle Eye
Witches Brooms: Cheesey Pretzel Sticks, Fruit Leather Bristles, Tied with Twist Ties
Bat Brains: Raisins
Witches Finger: Cucumber

Rainbow Lunch

On this morning, Lily and I were discussing how many colors she could identify in french, which inspired me to find as many colors to add as I could. Here's what followed:

Yellow - Banana
Green - Cucumber slices, Snow pea
Purple - Grapes
Blue - Blueberries
Red - Strawberries
Brown - Raisins
Pink - Dora snacks, Ham (in sandwich)
Orange - Carrots, Cheese slices (in sandwich)
White - Bread
Black - Gum drop

As I dropped her off for school, 

I asked her to count how many colors she found in her lunch. 

I picked her up all excited to see how many she'd counted, 

and she said she thought I said to count how many she saw at lunch time, so she counted colors around the room. 

Go figure :/ 

At least she's counting :)

Smile! Mama Loves You!

What's for lunch:

Red seedless grapes with a heart pick (found at Sobey's)
Heart shaped cheesy crackers
Ham and cheese slice sandwich on white bread
Fruit leather heart eyes
Snow pea mouth

Lily's Favorites

Lily-themed lunch:
(These are a few of her favorite things)

Carrot sticks
Herbed havarti flowers
Chocolate chip cookie made by Lily and Kelly
Fishy crackers
Ham and cheese slice sandwich on homemade whole wheat bread
Personalized fruit leather letters

Rainy Day Lunch

So we woke up this particular morning to a rainy day. This is what it inspired:

Chocolate chip cookie umbrellas with toothpick handles (cookies made by Lily and Kelly Campbell who watches Lily after school several days a week)
Fruit leather raindrops
Fishy crackers swimming in Bits and Bites
Ham and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat
Cheese slice umbrella
Rain drop sprinkles
Dora fruit snacks puddle

Side note:
Looking for sprinkles? Try the bulk barn! I picked up 4 or 5 different ones to get me started, and they have tons to choose from. The best part is, I only spent about $1.50!!

Thanksgiving Lunch

Thanksgiving-themed lunch:
Ham and cheese whiz sandwich on whole wheat bread
Cheese slice acorns
Fruit leather pumpkin, outline, and turkey
Apple sauce and fall leaves sprinkles, (which she did not eat)
Carrot sticks
Chocolate chip granola bars

Ghostly Lunch

A ghosty lunch:

Ham and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat
Cheese slice ghost
Granola bar tombstones
Raisins
Ghostie: Dora fruit snacks wrapped in a paper muffin cup, tied with a twist tie, and a face drawn on it
Strawberries

Spooky Lunch

Spooky lunch:

Bits and Bites
Marshmallow man with fan pick with sticker (found in my craft bin!)
Strawberries
Chicken and cheese slice sandwich on home made whole wheat bread
Fruit leather pumpkin
Cheese slice cat and message

Eek! We've slept in!

Woke up late that morning, haha

What's for lunch:
Strawberries
Unsweetened apple fieldberry snack, (which I discovered after taking this picture, that it doesn't fit with the lid on. Ended up sticking it on top of the container in the lunch bag)
Ham and cheese slice sandwich on multigrain bread
Personalized fruit leather

Zoo Lunch

Zoo lunch:

Turkey and cheese whiz sandwich on multigrain bread
Lion shaped cheese slice
Strawberries
Animal crackers

Snack Lunch #4

Experimenting with sandwich-free lunches...

What's for lunch:

Molasses bear paws
Cheddar cheese butterflies
Carrot sticks
Chocolate chip granola bars
Apple cereal bars
Valley apples

Side note, this is WAY too much food for a 5 year old girl!! Half of it came home. It's a learning process. Some days she comes home hungry, some days she comes home with leftovers. I'll figure it out eventually :)

I Heart Lunch

Heart-themed lunch:

Ham and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat
Heart shaped cheese slice
Molasses Bear Paws cut into hearts
Heart shaped fruit leather
Heart shaped banana slices

Snack Lunch #3

Experimenting with meatless lunches... (for fridays)

What's for lunch:

Strawberry cereal bars
Chocolate chip granola bars
Mixed fruit snacks
Carrot sticks
Bananas
Cheese triangles
Fishy crackers

Fishies!!

Fishy Lunch:

Turkey and cheese whiz sandwich on whole wheat
Fishy cheese slice
Valley apples on fishy picks
Fishy crackers

Teddy Bear Picnic

Teddy Bear Lunch:

Chicken and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat
Teddy bear cheese slice
Teddy pillows (aka Strawberries)
Teddy walking sticks (aka Carrot sticks)
Teddy grahams

Zoo Lunch

Animal-themed lunch:

Turkey and cheese slice sandwich on white bread
Giraffe cheese slice
Animal crackers
And because animals often like apples, (And we had a bag of apples from Lily and Daddy's apple-picking adventure to use up), we have valley fresh apples!

Last try with the Not-So-Good-byn

My last attempt at the Goodbyn :*(

As it turns out, it's just too big!

It makes her backpack too heavy,

and you could feed 2-3 people with the amount of food it holds.

Just not practical!

It's being put away until she's a little older, I think :(

Tried to do a fishy theme here with the crackers and picks, but ran out of time to think of more ideas.

What's for lunch:
Blueberries and Strawberries
Vanilla yoghurt with pink sprinkles, which she didn't eat because she thought the pink
meant it was strawberry :(
Carrot sticks
Juice box
Fishy crackers
Turkey and cheese sandwich on white bread
Banana slices on fishy picks, which she didn't eat because they turned brown :(

Lily's Favorites

Yay, bread!

What's for lunch:
Turkey and cheese slice sandwich on white bread
Fruit leather moon outline
Vanilla yoghurt with rainbow sprinkles, (I had hoped that she didn't eat it the last time because there was too much food, but no, she's just scared of sprinkles on things other than cake)
Carrot sticks
Strawberries

Snack Lunch #2

Introducing... the Ziplock easy lunch! These are great, and I love the one and only one I have, but they no longer make them :( Mine is old and about to break any day now. I've found ones just like it, (http://www.easylunchboxes.com/?AFFID=30973) but they're out of stock :( 

Boo urns

Still out of bread = Yet another improvised mish mosh

What's for lunch:
Moon cheese scraps (waste not!)
Chocolate chip granola bars
Fruit leather flower and moon outline
Raspberry cereal bars
Mixed fruit snacks
Red seedless grapes
Carrot sticks
Vanilla yoghurt with rainbow sprinkles, which Lily did not eat, because as I later found out, the sprinkles freaked her out :(

Side note, this is TOO MUCH FOOD for a 5 year old girl!! Half of it came home :(

It's been such a delicate balance learning how much she will and won't eat when I'm not there to make her :/

Snack Lunch

Back to the smaller dollar store containers today :) Out of bread and had to compromise :S

What's for lunch:
Cup #1: Raisins, mixed fruit snacks, a (hard to see) heart shaped piece of fruit leather
Cup #2: Carrot sticks
Container #2: Graham crackers, strawberry cereal bar, chocolate chip granola bar
Banana
Juice pack
Vanilla yoghurt

Stars and Moons Lunch

Aaand introducing... The Lock-And-Lock!

(Found at Zellers, it's a longer container boasting about being liquid tight)

Stars and moons lunch:

Marble cheese stars and moons

Strawberries

Chicken and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat

Fruit leather stars and moons

Another try with the Goodbyn

What's for lunch:
Blueberries and green grapes
Cheddar cheese scraps (leftover from stars...waste not!)
Vanilla yoghurt
Carrot sticks
Juice box and spoon
Chocolate chip banana cookie made by Lily and Mhomas
Ham and cheese whiz sandwich on whole wheat
Love note ♥

I thought I'd be creative, and keep the itty bitty foods from traveling by placing another silicone cup on top, but unfortunately, it just made a big mess :(

Lesson learned!

Introducing... The Goodbyn!

Our Goodbyn

Front decorated by Lily herself 

(Except the tidy placement of her name, mom helped with that)

The back of the Goodbyn (decorated by mom). 

The panel under the tail is where we put our phone number with the stickers provided :)

The Water Bottle

(We labeled ours with love on one side and amour on the other)

It's pretty, stays closed well enough without leaking into other compartments, 

but half of this lunch ended up coming home.  

The thing is, it's so huge, 

that to put enough food in there to make it look full,

you have enough food for 2 people!

The search for the perfect bento continues...

First try at Flowers

In this lunch:
Red and green grapes
Organic blueberries from Oxford NS
Raspberry cereal bar
Fruit leather flowers
Ham and cheese slice sandwich on whole wheat

Lunch container found at Winners by Lily's dad Tom! Great find, and is almost perfect, (even has an ice pack built in to the lid), but lacks one element: The interior walls must meet the ceiling. Lily did not eat all of her lunch because the blueberries had escaped, and squished on her sandwich and cereal bars, and in the world of Lily, these items should never meet :( 

The search continues...

Hearts Lunch

I really wasn't sure where to start when it came to making fun lunches, but I know Lily loves hearts, so I started there :)

The containers were all dollar store, but I was still looking for one container to fit it all. This began my still continuous search for the perfect bento.

In this lunch:
Turkey and cheese slices on home made whole wheat bread
Personalized and heart shaped fruit leather
Heart shaped cheddar cheese
Organic Blueberries harvested from Oxford, NS (Picked up in Pugwash, NS)
Chocolate chip granola bar
Plain crackers
Juice box

Love note ♥

All packed up and ready to go!

The First Lunch

First school lunch

The patchwork on top is something I sewed to keep her ice pack in so she won't lose it. 

(It has velcro on the side so I can take the pack out to put it in the freezer).

It may not be the prettiest sewing job, but it's made with love, haha 

Pretty uninspired, and I packed way too much food.  The learning process begins!