Thanksgiving bento, November 13

I know Thanksgiving is a couple of weeks away, but Monster has two weeks off school after today--one for conferences and another for Thanksgiving break. We decided to make a "turkey lunch" now to make up for the time off--I think he mostly just really enjoys the word "turkey."

The basis for this idea comes from Meet the Dubiens, a pretty popular bento blogger. I found her bento on Pinterest and about died. It's way too cute. We just used leftover things from around the house--a lot of our stuff will go bad in the next few weeks, so we need to get them out of the house.

I took a Wilton circle cutter to make leaves out of carrots and cheese--first cutting a crescent into one side and then the other. Next, you'll want to use a knife to cut a line down the middle and then a few branching off. It's hard to see in this picture, especially on the cheese, but it's super cute in person.

These were placed in a clear round container. I found them at the dollar store--10 for $1--and decided to pick up both square and round. I'm sure they're going to come in super handy.

For the turkey, use the round cookie cutter to make a small sandwich. Add Wilton eyes and cut a triangle out of a carrot for the beak. Put two baby carrots underneath for feet, and apple slices above for feathers. Voila, super awesome turkey.

This was placed into a large silicone cup. I found this at the dollar store last night along with a large star and a Christmas tree. I was more excited about this than a normal person should be.

I had two candy corn pumpkins leftover from Halloween--not totally sure how that happened. I decided to place them into a dipper. Lastly, we shoved in applesauce and a "thanks for being a great kid" card.

We won't be making bentos for a few weeks, which either means we'll be taking a break or posting random updates until December, but we are super excited for Christmas! Plans are already in the making, it's going to be awesome.

Rain Day Bento, November 12

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There is no rain today, but we've had a fair amount of it lately--pretty welcome in our area. We decided to make a rainy day lunch in order to celebrate the awesome weather. As Monster says, "I love the rain!"

We don't have any Lunchbox Love cards that mention rain, so we went for a simple "I love you" card instead. It's blue so it sort of fits our theme. These things are adorable!

First, we made a sandwich cloud. Use Wilton cutters to make bread circles--the medium size for the middle and the small size for the sides. Cut two chunks out of the bigger circle in order to match them up. Next, add Wilton candy eyes and a cheese mouth. We used the same small circle for this, cutting out a half circle and then cutting again in order to get a crescent shape.

To make the umbrella, cut an apple in half. Take one half and cut it again--this time sideways, so you have the top half of it. Add a pick for the handle. These can be found here.

We wanted to make a rainbow to go with our theme. It didn't work out as originally intended because SOMEONE (me) forgot to get something green. We used M&M's to compensate.

Add two thin slices of apple, some baby carrots, and two cheese slices into the left cup of your easylunchbox. In the right, add green M&M's into a small silicone cup (we used a PlanetBox Pod) and surround it with blueberries. You can also use cucumbers, kiwis, or some other green food--just remember to buy them!

To finish it off, take a mini star cutter and add cheese stars throughout the box. Raindrops work too--if you're better with a knife than I am!

FYI, none of these are affiliate links. I've just had a few people question where I got things, so I thought links would be helpful. Feel free to check them out!

We'll be back tomorrow with a turkey lunch. Monster has two weeks off, so this is our only chance to take advantage of Thanksgiving. Thanks for looking!

Under the Sea, November 10

So we are (read: I am) trying to avoid jumping into making Christmas lunches too early, so we're making this up as we go. This is the hardest goal ever, because Christmas is one of the best things that ever happened to the planet.

For some reason we thought a fish in the middle of November made sense. BECAUSE FISH ARE COOL.

Mark was super excited for this one. He even helped me pack it, including putting the "scales" on the goldfish. I doubt he'll eat the carrots, but I try to sneak some veggies in every once in a while just in case. Maybe we'll get lucky today (as if).

We used a Wilton cookie cutter in the shape of a fish and added a candy eye, also by Wilton. We then cut baby carrots into circles, which are layered on top to look like fish scales.

The apples were just an extra addition. We tried to make them look like some kind of coral/seaweed to fit the theme, but it's probably only a loose resemblance.

We added blueberries into the left cup, can't decide if they're meant to be water or bubbles. Use your imagination! The mini carrot stars on top are meant to resemble starfish. These were just leftovers from our scales, so we figured we might as well use them up.

And of course you can't do an "under the sea" theme without goldfish crackers!

I picked up some Lunchbox Love card by SayPlease last week. I have been drooling over them for a while, but it's pretty expensive to buy their large packs. I learned that they are about $4 at Joann's Crafts for a pack of 24 and I ran over there like a crazy person. I've been excited to use them all weekend!

We chose a fun fact about the giant squid to fit out theme--Monster had the choice between this and a shark fact. He doesn't even know what a squid is, but he was excited anyway. LOL!

So cool, right? Monster doesn't have school tomorrow thanks to a holiday, but we'll be back Thursday with a rainy day theme!

Bentos, November 3-6

Monster only goes to school Tuesday through Friday, so we get to make four lunches a week if we're lucky. This is assuming there are no holidays or conferences, he's not sick, and etc.

For some reason I just decided to use my camera to take photos of our lunches, so you'll see a dramatic change in quality between new and old pictures. Whoops!

Tuesday's lunch was Superhero-themed. He thought it was awesome.

Superhero lunchable. 💥

A photo posted by Taylor (@momandmonster) on Nov 3, 2015 at 10:26am PST

This was more of a homemade lunchable. We had meat and carrots cut into stars, crackers, and strawberries. I've been wanting to try "coins," so we took the leftover carrots and stuck cheese into them! Of course, we had to add a superhero granola bar. He didn't like it but it was worth a shot!

On Wednesday, we went for a fall look. We included applesauce in one section; apple slices in another; rolled meat, cheese cubes, and carrot leaves on the left; bread cut into leaves; and sliced strawberries.

We put raisins into the treat cup and pumpkin candy corn in randomly to give it color.

Thursday was a free-for-all. I really didn't plan anything, so we just went for a pink/red jumble. 

There were strawberries cut to resemble flowers, applesauce with leftover carrot stars, and kabobs.

For the kabobs, we just cut mini sandwiches into stars and added some strawberry slices and cheese cubes. Monster loves kabobs, both eating them and helping to make them, so they're always a hit!

On Friday we revisited a dinosaur craze that we went through last year.

I have way too many dinosaur things, so we kill when we make these. First, there were cheese dinos made from our cookie presses.

"Dinosaur" spelled out over pretzel sticks.

And a skeleton dinosaur made from some cookie cutters we have.

All-in-all, it was a really fun week. And Monster ate just about everything I sent with him.

I'm sure many of you will realize that I steal a lot of my ideas from Pinterest, LOL! But I always make them a little bit my own, and I have a great time doing it. Of course, there will always be some that are strictly ours.

All of our lunches are tailored for a kid that really doesn't like veggies, but loves fruit and sandwiches. It's just a way to make these mundane things fun.

Introduction

I've had a few ask me to make a blog--both for lunches and everyday life purposes--and have been saying I would do it for a long time. So here it is!

I'll start with sharing the lunches that we made throughout the month of October. Halloween and Christmas are my favorite holidays, so I've been dying for this time of year ever since Monster started school. I had a blast, and now I'm trying to stop myself from doing Christmas lunches too early LOL!

There was no need for a snack today thanks to their party, so here's an October recap. I hope everyone has an awesome Halloween. :)

A photo posted by Taylor (@momandmonster) on Oct 30, 2015 at 2:41pm PDT

We've been making bentos for almost a year now. As many of you know, Monster was diagnosed with autism (high functioning) just before his third birthday, but had been receiving services since 18 months old. Along with this comes (dun dun dun)...PICKY EATING (gasp). Making these lunches has made it exciting for him to eat every day. Not only that, but it's fun for me to make them.

Throughout this time, we have collected silicone cups, picks, cookie cutters, and lunch boxes galore. I am a little obsessed...I mean honestly, it's probably not healthy.

Crazy lunchbox lady gets organized... 😜

A photo posted by Taylor (@momandmonster) on May 29, 2015 at 9:22pm PDT

Flower picks got here just hours after doing a flower lunch!

A photo posted by Taylor (@momandmonster) on May 7, 2015 at 4:49pm PDT

We now have a Planetbox Rover, a Planetbox Launch, both style Yumboxes, and four EasyLunchBoxes. We sold our Planetbox Shuttle because it wasn't enough for us, but trust me, I have my eye on a ton more things that we need. I NEED NEED NEED a LunchBots box next!

A not-so-good comparison.

A photo posted by Taylor (@momandmonster) on Mar 26, 2015 at 3:21pm PDT

We've had fun showing our expertise (LOL see below). There have been times that we've made some of the cutest things ever...and times we've failed miserably.

Grilled cheese roll ups. :) I just want to point out that that is an easy bake oven rolling pin. Because I'm a legit chef.

A photo posted by Taylor (@momandmonster) on Mar 10, 2015 at 2:10pm PDT

While we tend to get our ideas from Pinterest (I LOVE YOU, P!), there have been plenty of times that it has failed us. Cue sad trombone here.

For instance, Monster's favorite movie OF ALL TIME is Toy Story, but unfortunately not many people have come up with Toy Story bento ideas. We had to make them up as we went, but I think they still turned out pretty cute.

Toy Story bento. Trying out #easylunchboxes since Mark is going to school more this year. 😍 #toystory #bento #lunchbox

A photo posted by Taylor (@momandmonster) on Aug 20, 2015 at 10:44am PDT

Toy Story again today. :)

A photo posted by Taylor (@momandmonster) on Sep 24, 2015 at 11:00am PDT

Through good times and bad times, cute lunches and ugly lunches, we've had a blast. Even the days that I accidentally ruined the theme. Even the days that I ripped the bread. Even the days that it took twice as long as it should have because I was too lazy to plan the night before.

And the best part? Monster just turned four, so we've got a lot of time left to do this.

Took a break from Halloween for a birthday lunch. Mark is 4 tomorrow. 😍

A photo posted by Taylor (@momandmonster) on Oct 23, 2015 at 11:25am PDT

Keep an eye out for us!