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Lunch Ideas that Pack a Punch!

Ideas Your Kids are SURE to Love at School OR at Home!

September 2, 2011
Tired of the same PB&J? BentOnBetterLunches is an awesome website by a north Puget Sound mom with the most creative ideas for changing it up a little. Ok, a lot! Take this "You Are My Sunshine" themed lunch, for example (see photo). Sun-shaped cheese on Sun Chips, Sun Maid raisins, and a slice of Sunkist orange to start. Fun to make ~ and a treat to eat! :) There are also ideas for themes like rainbows, bentos, balls, camping, flowers, polka dots, and MORE!

My name is Cristi. This is me & my sailor husband of 16 years. I'm Canadian, he's American. He's from DC, I'm from BC. We met in the Twilight Zone, a club in Vancouver, when we were both 21, and we've been best friends ever since.
     We have 5 kids I call the sproutlets who I'm trying not to turn into little sugar fiends like their mama, which is one of the reasons I started this blog - to help me stick to my resolution to feed them more healthy whole foods than processed sweetened ones. I want them to LIKE good food, so I'm trying to make it fun.
     Now, I don't deny my sproutlets junk food altogether - they get their share of chips, cookies and candy - and sometimes they get my share too if they find my stash :) They're MY kids, of course they love sweets, and because they're kids, they'll reach past the cherry tomatoes for the cherry candy - if there's cherry candy available, that is - which is why their school lunch is the perfect opportunity to get them to eat healthy. They'll be hungry, their options will be limited to what I've packed for them, and they'll be too far away for me to hear them complain ;) Of course, I don't want to give them anything to complain about, I do want them to like their meals...
     So I found myself looking around online for ways to make wholesome food fun - and discovered Japanese bento. Truly amazing, food as an art form. Much of it beyond my creative capability and/or my kids' pickiness threshold, still, inspiring! And then I found some American bento blogs. Now this kind of bento, I think I could do, or at least have fun trying. And even if my attempts aren't as perfect or pretty as the ones on the blogs that inspired me, my sproutlets will think they are - and they'll know their meals were made with love ♥
     On my blog, you'll find links and buttons linking to some of the fabulous bento & kid-friendly food blogs that I admire, plus a few other blogs I enjoy, and I'm sure I'll be adding more favourites as I encounter them. Check them out!