Once you get back into the daily grind of a school schedule and routine, things can sometimes get a bit monotonous. To shake things up a bit and add a bit of joy to your child’s day, here are a few creative ways to spruce up their packed lunches.
Mix It Up
Keep a variety of snacks and easy grab and go items on hand that your children love. Even if you stick with a sandwich most days, you can easily add variety with the side items that you add.
Bento Box
Instead of the usual sandwich and fruit, try a bento box or homemade Lunchable of sorts. Add crackers, slices of cheese, pepperonis and a couple other finger foods that your child enjoys to their lunchbox.
Cookie Cutters
You can still get creative with the regular sandwich routine with cookie cutters. There are special sandwich shape cutters out there, but often cookie cutters work just as well. It only adds seconds to your lunch packing routine to cut your children’s sandwich into fun shapes.
Love Notes
Add sweet love notes to your child’s lunch. It will be a sweet mid-day surprise to let them know you are thinking of them and anxiously waiting to spend the afternoon together. Coupons.com has a great online magazine – The Good Stuff. They have some adorable printable bookmarks and school lunch notes available for free right now!
There are lots to choose from and they are adorable and colorful and the perfect addition to your child’s lunchbox. Just head over here to check them out and print them for free.
Reader Giveaway: Thanks to The Good Stuff by Coupons.com you can enter below for a chance to win a $300 Amazon gift card! That surely would go a long way to help with Back to School essentials or save it for Christmas gifts and Holiday items! Good luck!
My son loves sandwiches and cut up fruit in his lunch! I love the idea of using cookie cutters to cut out sandwiches. My son would love to open up his lunchbox to see what shape they are in. I love to make homemade trail mix using different things each time.
My daughter loves to have an Olive Loaf sandwich, fiber bar, and juice box.
It is pizza
What kid doesn’t love good ole fashioned PB&J for their lunch
Kid bedtimes can look more like a grown-ups in the summer. Gradually move up bedtime to get your kids back on their school sleep schedule a couple of weeks before the first day.
Peanut butter and jelly, fruit, juice.
I don’t have kids, but my niece likes grapes
They love peanutbutter/jelli time. NO EGG SALAD.
Cold pasta salad!
Or Snickers Bars. 😀
Luckily its easy…PB and J. Easy to make.
My kids are older but they used to love any type of sandwich and fruit and juice in their lunches.
PB AND J and chips.
PB and strawberry jelly
PB and J All The Way!
My son loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips and a piece of fruit for his lunch.
Two or three weeks before the start of school start bedtime 5 minutes earlier each night.
My daughter likes her turkey sandwich with baked chips.
They love taco fritters and quesadillas.
p&b sandwiches
Surprisingly, bologna goes a long way around here.
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich
PB&J is a classic lunch and the kids always love it!
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips. Fruit and crackers are favorites too.
Bento boxes are great! I lived in Hawaii for years and everyone loves these snack assortments.
Peanut butter and jelly, the classic!
My kids would live on PB&J with yogurt and trail mix
PB&J FOR SURE 🙂
The kids here love ham and cheese sandwiches. With some fruit and cookies.
Our kids favorite lunch is peanut butter sandwiches and orange juice.
My tips are be prepared and get up WAY early!
My son loves pizza, juice and grapes
Well, I don’t have any kids so I’m not sure what you would like me to comment!
Ham and cheese and chips
love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Clucks Deluxe Chicken Sandwich
Ham and cheese sandwiches.
My back to school tip is to pack lunches the night before. We never buy lunch, but we do not want to deal with the hassle of packing everything up in the mornings either.
My daughter has been loving Strawberries lately!
My back to school tip would be to try and prep some of the snacks over the weekend.
My girls love PB&Js on rye.
My son has always loved leftovers for lunch.
My daughter’s favorite lunch is lo mein with cheddar cheese and a pickle.. Not lying lol.
My son likes sliced apples, grapes, and water melon with his lunch.
My daughter likes a turkey a cheese sandwich with fresh fruit as a snack.
I don’t have kids, but I liked meatloaf sandwiches for lunch. I’m not crazy. My mom makes good meatloaf!
Both my sons love tuna fish with onion & celery.
PB&J 🙂
Chicken nuggets and fries
PB&J
Both my boys like sandwiches. One of them likes bologna, the other likes turkey.
He’s having a great day when he gets a meatball sub
PB&J with milk.
My kids favorite school lunch is an italian sub.
cheese quesadillas, milk, applesauce and chocolate chip oatmeal cookie
Friday is pizza day the only day 4 lunch!
My son loves when i send him beans and hotdogs or pasta with carrots, corn and broccoli
Classic PB&J with an apple
my son loves any kind of fruit and tuna sandwiches thanks for the contest
my kids like bagels, cheese crackers and bananas
We are vegetarian and try to stay away from processed food my kids love carrots and celery with hummus.
No tips. I just could really use the $300 Amazon gift card. I tutor Asian children and would love to be able to buy some extra teaching aids like a microscope to help make learning more fun and interesting.
My son loves fruit, so I often send him with some fruit salad and cheese for lunch.
My daughters favorite school lunch is the chicken filet sandwich, she loves those things.
PB&J
My daughter’s favorite is a turkey sandwich, a piece of string cheese, an apple or banana and a granola bar.
My daughter’s favorite lunch is a whole wheat peanut butter sandwich, followed by a banana.
cheese and crackers and a juice box!
My kids like having turkey and cheese sandwiches. They like having yogurt and fresh pineapple, too.
like
a nutella and banana sandwich with carrotts and broccoli and ranch dip
My tip is to prepare as much as you can in advance… I cut up vegetables, hard-boil eggs and such for the week and store them in the fridge.
pizza
My boys love macaroni and cheese, or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Salami Sandwich, yogurt, fruit, green peppers!
The like the classic PB&J (apparently no Peanut allergies in their class this year)
Grilled chicken and salad.
Do as much planning during the weekend as possible so nothing sneaks up on you during the week.
My son loves any fruit. He will devour it if it’s in front of him.
My daughter loves ham and cheese with a side of fruit.
The favorite lunch is ham and cheese sandwiches
Pizza and fruit
pizza or spegetti
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich & Pizza
fruit and turkey and cheese
My kids favorite is leftover pasta w/sausage and or meatballs.
My kids love ham and cheese sandwiches, apple slices and an oatmeal cookie
I have been trying to keep my kids lunches interesting by getting fancier breads and making up things, such as taco sandwiches. They loved those taco sandwiches.
He loves PB&J
I don’t have kids, but my niece likes grapes
My children are away at college, so I am sure that would be something hot that is not rice and beans 🙂
I used to have to pack lunches every day, and they usually preferred taking leftovers from dinner.
kids always liked fruit with lunch
My daughter loved a turkey sandwich on rye with mayo and chips on the side
My grandson normally eats the school lunch, but every once in awhile he wants to take it, and always wants to have yogurt included.
PB&j and carrots and hummus
my grandkids love pb&j!
My kids love taking bento boxes with a lot of different things in it to eat!
My daughter loves to bring turkey wraps
My daughter likes strawberries, ham, cheese, snack crackers and water.
Wheat Tortilla rolls with Nutella spread
PB and Grape jam sandwiches
My nephew likes pizza.
No kids, but my nieces love cubed cheese, crackers and fresh fruit.
My daughter’s favorite meal is anything that has mashed potatoes!
My daughter always loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with homemade treats, brownies etc., in her Scooby-Doo lunch box! My nephew loves anything pizza related, bagel bites etc. in his Spiderman lunch box if he needs to take a lunch! Thank you!!
Nothing too adventurous at the moment. A PB & J sandwich, grapes, carrot sticks, milk, and a cookie!
Definitely the printable bookmarks. She loves to read as much as I do!
My daughter likes turkey & cheese sandwiches
my son is a big kid and he likes to take left overs for lunch. My daughter is a kindergartener and she is a standard pb&j with rotating sides. Right now she loves applesauce