Bento kid lunches

     

It's amazing how a cute lunchbox can motivate someone ! This school year I have a first grader and a kindergartner. Last year when Landon was in Kindergarten and my first one ever to start school, I bought a 3 compartment bento box from Target. It was basically just tupperware and I got bored of it quickly and used ziplock baggies for most of the school year. Plus Landon is my SUPER picky eater! So there wasn't much variety in his lunches ; ) 

This year, I found the bento box Stuck on You, plus my kindergartner tries way more food so I was determined to try different combos for their lunches. 

I didn't take a picture of the top of the boxes but they're personalized with their names and I also got Quinn a personalized lunch bag with her initial on it. The clear inserts pop out easily to clean, and it seals really well.

Pictured above: It's hard to tell with Landon's blue box, but for each compartment it has the names of the recommended food groups- fruits, veggies, grains etc...

For their first day of school lunch I did a simple peanut butter and jelly, cheese, cinnamon apple straws from trader joes, strawberries, Annie's fruit snacks, and scooby doo snacks. Those aren't dog treats btw ; ) 

Pictured above: Quinn's lunch of deli turkey, vanilla yogurt, cheese slices, strawberries and grapes, banana muffin and fruit snacks.

Pictured above: 

Landon's (in the blue)- pb &j , shredded cheese, banana muffin, cinnamon apple straws, grapes and fruit snacks.

Quinn's - the same except she has applesauce and turkey pinwheels. The pinwheel is a tortilla, deli turkey and sliced cheese rolled up. Landon would never eat that, so he got his trust pb&j : ) 

Since Quinn is more apt to eat variety, I take more pictures of her bento box! Pictured above: turkey cheese pinwheel, strawberries, cucumber, banana muffin, Annie's muddy buddies and fruit snacks. There was a straight week where they got a banana muffin each day because I made a batch!

The one pictured above came home empty. I'm skeptical that she actually ate the sugar snap peas but she says she did ! So who knows! But she ate it all (so she says!)

Dave's Killer bagel with cream cheese (she LOVES bagels and cream cheese)

sugar snap peas

grapes

muddy buddies

applesauce

fruit snacks

Now there are some days where there are a TON of starchy carb snacks in there then i'd like, but some days I don't have many options, so I do what I can work with! 

Ideally I would LOVE for there to be a good balance of veggies, fruits, grains etc... especially for Landon. But realistically, it doesn't happen every day. But I do enjoy making these, and I've even gotten Justin into the habit of sending me pictures on the days he makes their lunches because he knows how much I enjoy it lol! 

As the year goes on, we will let them have hot lunch once a week. And honestly last year with Landon, by the end of the school year, he was having hot lunch more then cold because well, we got lazy! So no promises these pretty lunches will continue every day!

Do you do bento type lunches like these for your kids? What do they enjoy eating? I'm always looking for fun suggestions!