Happy Birthday, Stan Lee!

In honor of Stan Lee's birthday, a card of sorts made up of John's favorite Marvel lunches!


(Also check out the Marvel-ous lunches over at BentOnBetterLunches and Bento For Kidlet!)

Hi! Fly Guy

I can't recall why this lunch didn't get posted when John actually had it but I just stumbled on the pictures on my laptop so here you go! John became a big Fly Guy & Buzz fan within the first couple of pages and was especially thrilled that there are quite a few more at the library. 

The Polar Express

Today is John's last day of school before winter break and they have a big day planned! All of the first graders will be caroling through the halls of their school and then they'll all be watching The Polar Express together before going back to their classrooms for parties. It's John's favorite holiday movie (and now also his favorite holiday book) so he's super-excited about getting to see it with his friends!

PB&J train sandwich with Empire Jack cheese letters, fruit snacks, grapes, Christmas cookies, chocolate Santa & not-Hot Chocolate (aka Yoo-Hoo)

Angry Birds Santa Pig

John still loves his Angry Birds and we've been playing the Angry Birds Seasons "Winter Wonderham" which is the inspiration for this lunch. He has a ham & cheese Santa Pig, Angry Bird Cheese Nips, Craisins & fruit snacks. Of course the pig was made with the amazing CuteZCute cutter. Every time John sees the set in the drawer he wants an Angry Birds Pig!

(This would have gotten posted yesterday but got bumped because of the Holiday Hop.)

  Made With CuteZCute:

Also available at AllThingsForSale!

Holiday Hop

When we first started talking about the Holiday Ho Ho Hop I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do and I was awfully glad I got a spot here in the last week of the three so I would have more time to ponder.
And then it came to me as if in a dream.... or a visitation by the Spirit of Christmas Lunch:

Blackadder's Christmas Carol!!!

Of course, I had to pack in +EasyLunchboxes using my pink pig cup from AllThingsForSale! 

noodles with mushroom gravy, turkey meatballs & provolone; Santa frosted brownie; caramel pudding & caramel filled Santa chocolates (even though they could be considered "utter crap")

 Since I know that not everyone is familiar (*cough*Netflix*cough*), here are clips:

Now click on the button and hop over to BentoForKidlet for some back-to-back holiday Black!

Snowman Pizza (and Oh, Christmas Tree!)

Wednesday's are typically Pizza Day at John's school but he passes in favor of lunch from home ... so today he gets both! He has a pepperoni snowman pizza on an english muffin with a "snowball" cupcake and grapes. The eyes and mouth of the snowman are from a black olive and the nose, of course, is a carrot.

Since I took Monday off for the Day of Remembrance, here's  what you would have seen then:


Friday John's class is going to go caroling to the other classes in his school and when I heard him humming "Oh Christmas Tree" while playing I knew exactly what he would have for lunch!

The tree is a simple pb&j sandwich with a colby jack star and Sixlets ornaments. In the tree snack container are yogurt-covered raisins and Craisins and it's surrounded by popcorn.

The Dinosaur That Pooped Christmas

Not too long ago I mentioned this book on Facebook and how much I thought John would love it ... and before I knew it a dear friend had replied to say that it was on its way .... and we LOVE it! It was written by Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter from the British band McFly and is probably going to be quite the holiday tradition for us now.

We read it (again) last night and decided that Chef Boyardee Mini-Bites Dinosaurs and some turkey meatballs would make for a perfect dinosaur poop lunch. I even covered John's Garfield Thermos jar with pictures of and from the book. He also has grapes and a chocolate Santa and an unpictured yogurt tube.

Hobbit Hop

In celebration of the release of The Hobbit some of the Bento Bloggers & Friends have decided to hop around Middle Earth with a Hobbit Hop! After seeing my contribution make sure you click on the button at the bottom and journey on until you end up back here.

I couldn't help it. With all the "Elf on the Shelf" stuff going on all over I made a crack to some friends that the only elf I would want hanging out on my shelf would be one from Middle Earth ... and who better than Gandalf? While technically not an elf by race he is referred to as The Elf of the Wand by the Northern Men. (His name, in Norse, translates to "Wand-Elf.") Besides, he's awesome.

Gandalf and his name are provolone and he sits on a cocktail sausage shelf atop macaroni and cheese and cheesy mixed vegetables.

Now, turn your cell phones to silent, no talking and journey on to see what's going on at BentOnBetterLunches!

Scholastic's Noodles - I Love Christmas!

This was actually one of two books we read for homework reading last night. The other book was a bit too hard for him to read all on his own and that tends to frustrate him so I pulled out Noodles which I knew he'd be able to breeze through and enjoy -- and I was right! He loved it and now, of course, wants all of the Noodles books.

 The lunch is pb&j, grapes, fruit snacks and cheese (and an unpictured yogurt tube):

That cute little card on the bottom? It's a FREE Lunchbox Love Elf Joke I got just by visiting SayPlease! The link takes you to a sign-up page for their weekly e-mails but that isn't necessary to get their free printables. It does, however, keep you in the loop and gives you 10% off so I would highly recommend doing it ;)

Snow!

So far we've had a remarkably un-snowy December so I thought I would make it at least seem normal and we spent the homework reading time finding various poems about snow & made a snow lunch for him to take to school. Not surprisingly, John's favorite poems that we read were both Shel Silverstein's: "Snowman" from Where The Sidewalk Ends and "Snowball" from Falling Up.

PB&J on wheat, grapes, popcorn, colby jack cheese & chocolate snowman.

You'll thank me when it's Wednesday ...

As promised, more Supernatural.

(click pic to go to Tumblr)

Of course, the best video I could find on YouTube has embedding disabled ... so just go watch it. 

Even better? Get thee to Netflix and start watching from the beginning. You'll get it eventually.

@Storia_eBooks Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight? (and Giveaway Reminder!!!)

John reading Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight? on the Storia app!

PB&J sleigh, provolone kangaroo & "hop"s, chocolate Santa, orange slices & cherry yogurt with sprinkles all packed in an EasyLunchbox with the yogurt in ELB's Mini Dipper.

Tonight the amazing Storia eBooks Giveaway ends!

Click HERE to go enter while you still can!

The first of probably many Supernatural lunches

My best friend got me watching Supernatural on Netflix and I love her for it. Well, I love her for a lot of reasons but Supernatural is definitely on the list! Since John has a half day of school today he didn't need me to make him anything special for lunch ... so I made one for me!

I decided to use two of my new boxes from AllThingsForSale and based it on Dean's pendant (which I also have in tattoo form!) and the much-played "Carry On My Wayward Son." In the larger box I have creamed spinach, beef pot pie and provolone words & pendant. The smaller box has some apple pie.

From ATFS:

Dean's Pendant:

Rudolph With Your Nose So Bright ....

Today John is going on a field trip with his first grade class to see our local ballet school perform The Adventures of Rudolph! The show is a local tradition through-and-through. It was written and choreographed by the founders of the school and still is ... 34 years later. John is SO excited about it! They'll miss they're scheduled cafeteria time so will be eating lunch in the classroom and I thought it would be a great day for a truly festive lunch.

Rudolph is pb&j and was made using an upside down gingerbread man cutter. John thought that was truly genius of me ... but I think I first saw the idea from Martha Stewart. He also has star crackers, carrot sticks with spinach dip, raisins, Sixlets and a little Santa chocolate.

If I Had A Dragon

If I Had A Dragon was the book of choice last night for John's homework reading. It's a fun story about a little Morton who decided that it would be more fun if he had a dragon to play with instead of his little brother. He imagined all sorts of things that they could do together .... like go swimming and go to the movies .... and finally realized that having a little brother isn't so bad after all.

John has a pb&j Morton sandwich, grapes, caramel corn, and will get a yogurt cup on the side.

Scholastic @Storia_eBooks Giveaway!

John with his lunch for Monday and the Storia eBook it's based on: Learn About Weather: Snow

 Unless this is the first time you've been here I'm sure you already know what HUGE fans John and I both are of Scholastic's new eBook service, Storia. When I was growing up I would always get excited when the Scholastic Book Fair happened at school or those Book Club order forms would get sent home to my folks. John started to get those same order forms sent home with him when he was in preschool and I always try and make sure that he has at least one item with his name on it when the orders come in.

Now we don't have to wait!

With Storia eBooks I have 24-hour access to their online store where I can always find a great book to add to his "bookshelf." And he loves them. The app download is free and comes with five books of varying reading levels. This isn't just a beginning reader app ... this goes from 3 up to 14! (And even older if, like me, you still enjoy a well-written "young adult" novel from time to time.) Some of the books are even enhanced with added bells and whistles and activities for the kids to click on!

From Scholastic's online press kit:

 You can also check out the far more complete "About Storia" page!

(Not sure if you're device is compatible? Give them a call at 1-855-STORIA1 -- they have AMAZING Customer Service reps and I'm sure they could tell you!)

Now a cute pic of John and some of his Storia-inspired lunches:

And NOW the big huge exciting news!

I contacted the good folks at Storia via Twitter not too long ago and asked if they would be willing to sponsor a giveaway here at What's In Our Lunch Bags? 

I was thinking maybe a couple of books ....

They're giving 20!!! 

That's right, boys and girls. One extremely lucky reader will be receiving their choice of TWENTY Storia eBooks to load onto their virtual bookshelves! Perfect timing for the holiday season, too! 

Have more than one kid? No problem. You can set up multiple bookshelves within the app easy peasy lemon squeezey (as John would say)!  

 

Storia will be providing a list with over 100 titles to choose from. I must admit, I'm more than a little jealous of whoever wins. I would probably stock up on books John would enjoy reading now and grab a handful for when he advances in his reading skills a bit more!

Entering the contest is as easy as a couple of comments. They are both mandatory entries. If you don't do them, you don't win.

MANDATORY ENTRY #1: Follow Storia eBooks on Pinterest and leave a comment here with your Pinterest username so I can check.

MANDATORY ENTRY #2: Follow Storia eBooks on Twitter and leave a comment here with your Twitter username so I can continue to stalk you.

That's it! No need to share (although that would be nice) or to like or follow me (although those would be nice, too). 

Leave those two comments any time between now and 11:59 PM ET on DECEMBER 10, 2012 (which happens to be my birthday -- I like giving stuff away on my birthday) and on December 11th I will notify the winner of their awesomeness. (Which means that I need some way to contact you. If your email isn't linked to your profile or I don't somehow already talk you on a regular basis, I need to now how to get you.)

PLEASE NOTE: At this time, Storia is available to be downloaded by anyone in the United States and those with APO/FPO addresses only.  Sorry my international peeps!

Bob from Rhyming Dust Bunnies

The lunch:

PB&J with Empire Jack nose, eyes, block & American "Look;" fruit snacks, Turkey Bites & grapes

The lunch with the book:

An adorable book that got lots of giggles from John! It has at least one sequel that I noticed at the library. We'll be getting that at some point to read, too!

And the book itself:

The Duckling Gets A Cookie!? and my blog gets hijacked!

First lunch:

Ham & cheese sandwich, Mini Slim Jim, mozzarella string cheese, grapes, fruit snacks & a cookie!

There are few things that give John as much joy as a Mo Willems book!  
The Duckling Gets A Cookie!? is no exception.
He cracked up time and time again while he was reading it ... and then, again, when he saw his lunch!

OH NO! We're being hijacked!
Oh ... it's just our good friend, Keith, from Oh!Bento

Hello everyone,

My name's Keith and I am high-jacking Karen's blog for this one little post. ( She did give me permission. I promise!)

I write the Oh!Bento blog and I am hoping to publish the first English language bento tutorial magazine, I want the magazine to be full of tutorials, product reviews, recipes and other foody tid-bits. I also want the magazine to be highly interactive, I want the readers to have a say in what is included as well as the readers being able to submit their own recipes, tutorials and bentos while being credited for them.

I have created a Kickstarter page in the hopes of making this dream come true. I want to, with your help, spread the word of just how great healthy lunches are. I believe this dream is achievable and I will do everything I can to get this magazine to you all.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I will now pass back to the more than capable Karen and her amazing lunches. Take care everyone.

Five Little Monkeys

John loves the Five Little Monkeys books. He has the original on the stand next to his bed for a regular bedtime read and he was super excited when my last trip to the library had me bring home a different one in the series!

PB&J on whole wheat with Empire Jack cheese features, 5 and letters; Turkey Bites; grapes; fruit snacks; yogurt tube

Henry's Amazing Imagination! by Nancy Carlson

(also known as the book from the lunch in the lunch from the other lunch)

... and John in an @EasyLunchbox, too!

I've gotten lots of suggestions as to what the lunch looked like in my lunch yesterday ....
Here's the actual inspiration for it all!

 

And the picture that the cheese picture is based on ....
with the book that the lunch in the lunch is based on ...

(I'm sure he'll actually get the lunch based on the book sometime this week!)

Me In An @EasyLunchbox

'Nuff said.

Give Thanks For Each Day (@Storia_eBooks)

Although I grabbed Give Thanks For Each Day for John thinking it would be a great Thanksgiving read, it really is an every day book ... and will probably be read and re-read throughout the year!

 I had John pick out which page he wanted, of course, and got all warm and fuzzy when he picked out the one of the Mommy bear with her cubs.

 PB&J on wheat, grapes, colby jack cheese stick and Teddy Grahams. It's his last day of school before Thanksgiving and they'll be getting a special treat for snack time so I didn't want to give him a very heavy lunch!

Stickfiggy Presents The First Thanksgiving from @MeMeTales

Thanks to the wonderful JDaniel4's Mom we have a wonderful new reading app on the iPad called MeMeTales (it's also available for Android and computer). They have a huge selection of books and an awful lot of them for free .... including the wonderful StickFiggy Presents The First Thanksgiving that John and I read Sunday afternoon.

We loved how there were two different sets of text on most pages -- a "narrator"/Mommy line and then a larger (and easier) John line. John loved the simple but wonderful illustrations and the fact that it was set up for us to read together. I loved those aspects and also that it was more accurate than most Thanksgiving stories. No turkeys to be seen anywhere (that didn't become the norm until the 1800s)!
John does, however, have turkey (bites) in his lunch... along with with colby jack stick cheese, grapes, fruit snacks, yogurt and pb&j!

ThrifTee Gear Waste Free Lunch Bag Giveaway (and review!)

GIVEAWAY CLOSED! CONGRATS TO BETH!

Of all of the things that I've been thankful for lately one of the most fun has been the opportunity to try out ThrifTee Gear and have my own custom lunch bag made out of a t-shirt of my choosing (being, of course, a Doctor Who bag! I know ... I'm a geek.)!

I love that it's a mom-based company.
I love that it helps further my quest to provide John and myself with waste free lunches in that it's made from an upcycled shirt.
I love that I have complete control over how "normal" or "geeky" it can be.
I love that regardless of the shirt chosen it's pretty much guaranteed to be the coolest lunch bag out there.
I love that they're big enough to fit an EasyLunchbox flat (more on that in a bit).
I love that they're great to take to work or to school. Kids, tweens, teens, adults ... they're great for everyone!
I love that they aren't just for lunch. Mine has already been to work, John's school, and the grocery store as a purse ... holding my reusable shopping bags & wallet!

And what I REALLY love?

I LOVE that ThrifTee Gear has given me the opportunity to give a bag to one of my readers!

Now, about my Geeky Awesomeness ... then on to how you can get your own!

It took me a little while to decide which shirt to use but I finally decided on my Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey shirt. The image was a bit longer than would fit onto the bag. The bag dimensions are 12" x 12" x 4" but for the image it would have been better if I had chosen something closer to 9" long. It's still a great bag that John and I have both fallen in love with!

Before cramming it full of stuff to take to work:

Everything that I planned on taking the night in question -- an Easy Lunchbox, my Psych thermos, the new Christopher Moore thick paperback & wristlet:

And it all fit perfectly!!!

I've already picked out which shirt I'm going to have transformed next, but first you get a chance to get your own bag from ThrifTee Gear! (Keep it for yourself or use it as an awesome holiday gift!)

What You'll Win: An awesome, cool, wonderful, waste-free custom lunch bag from ThrifTee Gear (retail value $19.95)!

How You'll Win: Leave a comment! (or five if you want more chances -- leave a separate comment for each entry!)
MANDATORY ENTRY #1: Visit ThrifTee Gear and comment here about a bag design you like.
ENTRY #2: Like ThrifTee Gear on Facebook and leave a comment on their wall so I can check up on you actually doing it ... and leave a comment here telling me to go spy (or you could just copy the link to your post)
ENTRY #3: Follow ThrifTee Gear on  Twitter and leave your Twitter username in the comment here.
ENTRY #4: Follow ThrifTee Gear on  Pinterest and leave your Pinterest username in the comment here.
ENTRY #5: Share this giveaway! Blog it, Tweet it, Facebook it, Pin it ... just do it and leave me a link knowing where to find it!


When You'll Win: Entries will be accepted starting now (yes -- right now) and will cease at 11:59pm ET on Saturday, December 1st. I will use random.org to pick a winner and will contact the winner on Sunday, December 2nd. If I don't have a way to contact the winner I will have to pick again. PLEASE make sure I have some way of getting a hold of you!

IMPORTANT NOTICE FROM THRIFTEE GEAR: This giveaway is offered to US residents only. Please do not enter this giveaway if you have won or received free product from ThrifTee Gear within the past 3 months.



AND A NOTICE FROM ME: I did receive my ThrifTee Gear bag free of charge and they are also footing the bill for the winner. I was not in any way pushed into saying how awesome I think they are, though. That's all me. And John. (He keeps trying to claim the bag as his own!)