Cute but there is no way they will stay looking like that after a trip in their back packs on the way to school
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I was just going to ask the same thing. How do you keep these lovelies in perfect shape during transport?

super cute! i love making these for my kids. the few lunch blogs i have kinda went poot on me! love finding new ones.

to the above commenters. the above lunches look like they would make it to lunch. shallow boxes with tight lids and other just for lunch containers help out. also putting the lunch on bottom or flat not on its side helps. the little cheese letters can help stick with some mayo. there are tons of tricks. its FUN.

sorry, i'm gonna be a wet blanket and say this is cute but waaaay over the top. i can't imagine doing this at 7 a.m. for 2-3 kids not to mention if you do it once, then it'll be expected. on top of that, kids often don't eat all of what's packed so it would be a ton of time spent for food that either comes home or winds up in the trash. third, i think it's important to teach kids that food is food, not a toy. i care what my kids eat and put time and thought into their lunches but this seems more like a hobby for parents with a whole lotta time on their hands, their own blog, or a ton of guilt.
i know, i know, i'm no fun.

Any idea where you can buy the blue lunchbox?

Neve rmind. It's a Pottery Barn kids Spencer bento box.

i agree with jsev. very cute, but even with my single child i can't imagine doing this every day at 7 am with work and deadlines looming. even if i had the time and energy, it wouldn't look half as good (poor frog would look psycho) and with my 3 year old's limited palate, it would be nitrate-free hot dog flowers every day.

but kudos. looks yummy and fun.

My kid will be lucky if his lunch pail isn't a paper bag with dinosaurs on it.

Jackie, that is what I thought. It is unrealistic to pack these and carry them flat in a backpack. Kids drop their packs, lay them every which way, kick them, run and jump with them. Even with mayo as glue, you cannot guarantee that a cutesy design will last until reveal.

I am not the kind of mom who would tell her kid to remember to hold the backpack still, or your lunch design will fall apart. That adds up to too many don'ts, and it is too demanding of young children.

Although I think these shapes and designs are sweet and charming, I know they are a better fit for lunch served at home where the pack does not travel. Those containers are not shallow, either. Once you put the lid on and bounce, those grapes and whatever are not staying in a cupcake wrapper.

I also agree that doing this is completely unrealistic for multichild families. Working parents who get up early to pack lunches do not have time for this.

This is definitely too much work for me- and too much wasted food (on top of the food that my kids inevitably waste on their own). And I agree that this is a bit of a hobby, but I don't think it's fair to say this person has a whole lot of time on her hands or guilt- aren't moms allowed to have hobbies? Even busy moms? I like to make some things for my kids and house even though it would be more efficient to buy them and sometimes I make complicated things when a simple thing will do- just because I like to. And I have 2 kids and work, so I am busy, but I think everyone needs some creative outlet.
If you look at the blog, the author says she sometimes lays napkins on top of the food to keep it from moving around. And it looks like her kid is preschool-age, so maybe she puts the lunch into his cubby and he doesn't really move it till lunch time? Also, it sounds like the mom has been making an effort to revamp her family's diet in the last year and this is one way she's gotten her kids to enjoy healthier foods after being used to junk. Good for her!

This would be ideal for the sick child who is gotten surly, bored and wiggly staying in bed. If their meals were brought to them packed like this, with little bits and little surprises, they might be distracted for a few minutes from being the Awfullest Kid in the World.

I agree with those who say this is over the top - and I'm a woman who makes her own puff pastry!

That said, every once in a while when I was a kid my mom would cut my sandwich into a heart and it made me feel like a million bucks.

How is this "over-the-top"? It just looks like some cookie cutters and cute containers to me. I guess you guys have never heard of bento boxes.

If you look at the blog, the author says she sometimes lays napkins on top of the food to keep it from moving around.

I read the page where she says the following:
A) She doesn't do this every day.
B) She uses broken toothpicks to hold pieces together, then puts a napkin on top, then makes sure the fit is snug.
C) She packs the box flat on top of the backpack, and she places it on the shelf above the oldest son's coathang area.

She is a stay-at-home mom whose oldest was going to school, and then her youngest started Kindergarten, therefore she had time to pack the themed lunches. She said it's a hobby, and of course, there's nothing wrong with hobbies, but telling full-time working parents out there that they "should" do this smacks of unrealistic thinking (and for the record, I'm a stay-at-home mom of five+ years and would not dream of telling busy parents to make these themed lunches). :-D

The labeling seems over the top, but otherwise everything seems quite doable. I like blogs like this because they give me great ideas for ingredients, and usually have tips on how to streamline the meal-prep process.

As far as wasting food, if cutting a sandwich with a cookie cutter and throwing away* the crust makes the difference between your beanpole kid eating that sandwich or throwing it away, then it is worth it. This technique works pretty reliably on my kid.

I threw away my mom's lovingly prepared sandwiches ever day for twelve years. These were the same tasty sandwiches I would eagerly eat at home, but school lunch was always too early and too rushed. I wasn't in the mood. Perhaps if they had been cut into shapes I would have at least occasionally eaten some. And as an adult I prefer food to look fun and interesting. So a boring lunch won't necessarily teach your kid that food isn't a toy.

*I eat the crust and cut-offs from my daughters' sandwich shapes. It is my breakfast, most days.

Oh! Another reason it is worth it to try "over the top " lunches for your kids: it encourages you to pack balanced, fun lunches for yourself.

This looks like a lot of work but I bet you would get a lot of success with picky eaters. People eat with their eyes. I'm sure this would make any child excited about veggies.

Aww folks its not that hard! I do have a crazy large cookie cutter collection. Beneto boxes are made for this kind of thing. If you dont wanna then dont. But I do and I freaking love it and pack lunches the night before! It really adds like ten more mins and I enjoy those ten more mins!

Very kawaii... But this is the type of the thing that makes me feel inadequate at times ( I can barely make a sandwich!).

Those lunches are awesome! What kid, or adult for that matter, wouldn't think that was the coolest thing ever to open up at lunch time?! I think for those who have the time and desire, it's a fun, cool thing to do for your kids. For those who can barely get a regular lunch together, it will never happen. I see it as something to be used for inspiration, when I feel like doing something special, or as a way to jazz up an everyday lunch. Kids do respond to the way food is presented and it could definitely peek the interest of an otherwise apathetic eater.

these always seem awesome until you wake up 5 minutes before its time to leave and your child gets something that resembles that lunch that goldie hawn fixes in overboard. (kidding, kinda)

I guess I'd just rather read the newspaper with those ten minutes.

I agree with the comment that doing this every day for lunch would lead to expectations that all food be cut into fun shapes and served separate from each other in cute arrangements.

I like to make the food look reasonably appetizing for my kids, but I think food looks good in it's own right, it doesn't need to be masked to look like something else. Also, with the exception of the couscous dish, all the food is kind of plain, that's not really encouraging kids to try new flavors.