Halloween Lunches!

Halloween

Halloween is here and I don't know about all of you but I am definitely starting to feel the spirit. I've dug out my Halloween lunch decorations, put up our skeleton on the front door, and bought Monkey some window clings to put up (one of her fav things to do at any holiday). I hope you'll enjoy these first few Halloween lunches and that you'll feel free to share your own Halloween lunches! 

One of my favorite things to do at Halloween is draw little faces onto oranges to make them look like pumpkins. It's easy, it's inexpensive, and it really works well for adding some Halloween fun! If you haven't done it before, give it a shot, I bet your kiddos will love it. 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Leftover Smoked Turkey
• Snap Pea Crisps
• Cheddar Cheese Cubes
• Jack-O-Orange
• Carrots
• Grapes

I was excited to use this bento box again! I haven't gotten to use it much so I am striving to use it more. I really love it, it just packs a lot of food! Yes, I have some inedible decorations in this box, but my daughter is old enough to know to just enjoy them and leave them in the box till the end of the day. Of course keep in mind your child's age and maturity when using inedible decorations.

IN THIS LUNCH:

• Mixed Greens Salad w/ Balsamic Vinaigrette (and tomatoes)
• Cheddar Cheese Skull & Crossbones (used a cookie cutter) 
• Skewers: Nitrate free Salami, Marinated Mozzarella, and Tomato half (Got Halloween Skewers at Dollar Tree)
• Sliced Plum (Little spider I got it from Dollar Tree in a bag of mixed Halloween Decorations)

This is a new box and the first time I have used it. I LOVE it. It's a Sistema sandwich box with a divided sides. I picked up the trick-or-treat napkins, the bat picks, and the bat rings from Dollar Tree. I have a sandwich press I used to make the bat pocket sandwich. Again take into consideration age and maturity before using inedible decoration.

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Jam sandwich
• Grapes
• String Cheese 
• Nitrate free Salami
• Salad w/ Balsamic Vinaigrette

Here are some old lunches of mine for more Halloween inspiration.

IN THIS LUNCH: Halloween Lunchable

• Crackers, Turkey Pepperoni, Pumpkin Shaped Cheese
• Carrots
• Cottage Cheese (With Gummy Spider)
• "Witches Brew" (Pumpkin Egg Nog w/ a little food Coloring)

IN THIS LUNCH:

• Haunted House Sandwich
• Cheese Ghost
• Eerie Carrot Chip Clouds
• Blood Moon (Babybel)
• Salad Grass
• Apple Starry Sky
• Chocolate Chip Chobani Champions yogurt w/ little food coloring and Halloween sprinkles

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Ghost Sandwich (Used a cookie cutter and put the cheese on top instead of inside)
• Tomatoes
• Frozen Fruit
• Sweet Potato Chips

Easy ways to spookify lunches

  Fun Halloween sprinkles on yogurt

Candy Corn Parfait

Vanilla Yogurt

Mandarin Orange Slices

Peach Segments

You can also use cupcake picks, rings, Halloween themed baggies (I get them at Dollar Tree), Cookie Cutters, or use the traditional colors, I'll use candy occasionally like the gummy spiders, chocolate eyeballs, etc.. Hope these helped get you into the Halloween spirit! 

Happy Packing!

Lunch Round Up 111-115 & Grub for the Hub

111 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Sandwich Skewers
• Salad w/ Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Raisins
• Pumpkin Fluff (Extra Creamy Cool Whip, Pumpkin Puree, and Pumpkin Spice) 

113

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Carrots/Tomatoes w/ hummas
• Small salad w/ taco dressing
• Pretzel skewers that have uncured salami, colby jack and swiss cheese
• Pita Pieces

114

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Leftover Vegetarian Pizza 
• Carrots
• Tomatoes
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Almond Milk

115

IN THIS LUNCH: "Make your own Burritos"

• Tortillas
• Tomatoes
• Pepper Rings
• Cucumbers
• Mix of beans, meat, olives, rotel, and sour cream

Grub for the Hub

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Biscuit
• Tillamook Marionberry Greek Yogurt
• Banana Chips
• Hardboiled egg
• Tillamoo Cheese
• Breakfast sausage. 
• Not Pictured (snacks for work): Cheese, Extra Biscuit, and a LaraBar

Grub for the Hub

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Leftover Vegetarian Pizza
• Cucumbers 
• Dried Cranberries & Pumpkin Seeds
• Larabar
• String Cheese

Happy Packing!

109 & Grub for the Hub

109

So folks are are getting down to the bottom of the barrel here as far as what we have for lunch fixins. I know it's something we all go through at the end of the month (especially those that only get paid once at the beginning of the month like we do). So, the lunches might start seeming a bit...hodge-podge. Luckily, Monkey isn't picky and will eat whatever is in the box. So, if the lunches start seeming a bit...odd or less cohesive, you'll know why. 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Whole Wheat Crackers
• Pepper Rings
• Banana Chips
• Peas
• Shrimp
• Cottage Cheese
• Brownie with Peanut Butter Coconut Frosting (hers also had a couple chocolate chips, that's the bumps)

That's right today's special treat is some homemade brownies with my special icing. Let me tell you, it's soooo yummy! You can get the recipe by clicking the link above or the photo below! 

Grub for the Hub

So this is what REAL looks like. HAHA. I didn't get to finish his lunch until right before I went to bed last night and it was too dark to take a picture. Well, he leaves before the sun is up, so it was too dark THEN to take a picture. So I asked my husband to take a picture of it at work and send it to me. This is what it looked like. Of course when I packed it the kiwi were in a nice little line kept over by their lettuce separator....so here what it really looked like after he got it to work. :P

IN THIS LUNCH:

• Tillamook Marionberry Yogurt w/ Almonds
• Sliced Kiwi
• String Cheese
• Mini Bagel Sandwich -- Mayo, Swiss, and Pepperoni
• Brownie with Peanut Butter Coconut Frosting.

108 & Grub for the Hub

108

Monkey has been very enthusiastic about her lunches lately and now that I am making lunches for Dad she's pretty interested in those too. The sad part, we're getting to the end of the month so we are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel on lunch fixins. Usually I plan out lunches for the whole month, but this month with her birthday party well, things went a bit off course and I never got around to it! But, hopefully these lunches will be up to par.

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Apple Slices
• Mini Ravioli (tomato sauce in green container)
• Halved Tomatoes
• Turkey Pepperoni
• String Cheese (cut into rounds)

Initially, I wanted these to be skewers...but the string cheeses weren't cooperating! So I gave up and she got all the pieces I had ready for the skewers. Hooray for lunch fails! 

Grub for the Hub

So my bento blog friends all helped me come up with this segment name and my husband liked it too, so all the posts with lunches for my husband will have the Grub for the Hub title. :) I hope this will make finding them easier when you search. 

IN THIS LUNCH:

• Garlic Hummas
• Carrots & Pepper Strips
• Parmesan Cous Cous
• Chicken Tenderloins

Color wise this lunch IS a bit drab, but it's full of flavor and I think he'll enjoy it. He LOVES chicken so that's always an easy go to when thinking about what to cook for him. 

Happy Packing!

Happy Birthday Monkey!

Okay, well Monkey's birthday is not until this Saturday but it seemed only fair to give her a special lunch for her Friday lunch to celebrate anyway. This year my little Monkey is turning 7 and I can't believe how much time has passed already! So tomorrow when she wakes up she'll be surprised with a new My Little Pony hooded sweatshirt and this lunch to take with her to school. I hope she'll love it.

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Popcorn Chicken
• BBQ Sauce (In our purple Sistema to go) 
• Cucumber slices
• Cottage Cheese w/ Pepper
• And a mini lemonade cupcake with sprinkles. 

Do your kids have to go to school on their birthdays? If they do how do you make it special for them? :) 

Happy Packing!

.095

Monkey has been enjoying her first week back at school and I'm finding the quiet extremely odd! I'm glad she is reconnecting with friends and getting back on a schedule. Today for lunch I wanted to offer her some of her favorite foods

IN THIS LUNCH

• Pretzel Thins
• Rolled Turkey Lunch Meat
• Baby Carrots
• Tomato Slices
• Mozzarella Slices
• Watermelon Chunks

What are your kids favorite foods?

Happy Packing!

Sneaky Lil' thing

So a while back during a Roald Dahl blog hop by the Bento Bloggers & Friends there was a fantastic lunch posted by Organized Bites for The Witches (one of my favorite Roald Dahl pieces) and I fell in love with this cute little kiwi mouse she made. I thought it was totally clever and I decided to try my hand at making my own little kiwi friend today. It's not as good as hers but both Monkey and I still really enjoyed it. Please do check out her post HERE.

But, here's my lunch. :)

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Leftover chicken from last night's dinner
• Grape Tomatoes
• Kiwi
• Popcorn
• String Cheese
• Chocolate Almond Milk (not pictured) 

Happy Packing!! 

A little slow

So, today I was again feeling in the lunchy mood so I decided to try out a new cutter on the sandwich my daughter requested. I also decided to bust out a veggie that she keeps insisting she now likes, though she hated it before. Will we end up with an empty box or will it still have that veggie that I am skeptical at best she's liking now?

IN THIS LUNCH:

• Snail Sammy - Sunflower butter and Jelly
• Broccoli
• Blueberries
• Cottage Cheese with Pepper
• Flavored water

Well, I am pleased as punch to report that it was an empty box! She ate the broccoli with no comment other than it was clever that I used it as grass. Hey, who doesn't like appreciation? What are you all having? 

Happy Packing!