Bento Lunch Notes!

I love to put little notes in Eliana's lunch box. Unfortunately, I am not really the "write a sweet note each day" kind of mom. In fact, I'm a "prepare as much as I possibly can ahead of time so the morning routine is less stressful" kind of mom. Thus the "5 bentos each Sunday night" routine. Because I am that way, I utilize pre-made lunch notes and just write things like "Love, Mommy" on them.

There is only one problem I've found... I like to tuck the notes into the utensil compartment of the bento, and most printables are not designed for that. They either have to be folded in half to fit, or I do something like this:

I am almost done with the printable lunch notes I got ready at the beginning of the year, so tonight I set out to make some that fit into bentos. Here's what I came up with...

Download them here.

I am excited to use these for her lunches! This will get me at least through 2 weeks, and, hopefully, that will give me enough time to think through some more over the Christmas break so that I have some for Spring! If you use them, give me a little shout out so I know they've been loved by someone other than me! Thanks for stopping by!

Hello, hello!

It's been almost a year since I posted, which might make you think I've stopped bento-ing. Nope! I haven't! I just kind of stopped blogging for a spell there. Here's how bentos work at our house now...

On Sunday afternoon / evening, I pull out my bento supplies and make 5 (or however many days of school Eliana has that week) bentos, as well as prepare a morning snack for her to eat at recess, and an afternoon snack for her to eat when she gets home each day. The bentos are usually pretty similar, but not necessarily identical for the week. Here's what this week's process looks like... 

This week there are a couple variations on the food... Including (of course!) leftover turkey and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie... 

So... I am still making bentos. occasionally still taking pictures. Rarely, still blogging. I'd love to blog a little more, but I'm not making any promises. Still, I've got an exciting post for you tomorrow... ;)

100th Day!!

Today was Eliana's 100th day of school, so they celebrated with all sorts of activities today! I volunteered to make bentos for her kindergarten class. Here's what they looked like!

From Bentos

They have studied the food groups, so I made sure to include something from each of the food groups, and they are currently studying mammals, so I included a mammal pick in each one, too! Here's the whole group of bentos...

From Bentos

Four Circles...

From Bentos

This one ended up with more symmetry than I expected! 

Applesauce, pears, jello, muffin, carrots, canadian bacon and "cheese"

Pasta and Pears

From Bentos

Leftover pasta, pears, applesauce, and jello!

Shells and cheese with stars, please!

From Bentos

Shells and "cheese" was a big hit this week, topped with canadian bacon, star "cheese", peas, kiwi, and strawberry! This was a favorite!

Moon and Stars...

From Bentos

This day Eliana got a moon shaped rice crispy treat, apples, shredded chicken, "cheese" crackers, and frozen peas in a star cup! How celestial!