I still have to pinch myself when I see my son standing so tall. He was such tiny baby – at just over 3 lbs, and born at 30 weeks – that it still amazes me how articulate he is, and how inquisitive.

Packing his lunch is a bit of a milestone for me. Seeing him able to leave the nest and eat outside of our home – well, it makes me all mushy inside. So today, I’m sharing some of the easiest ways to pack some FUN into kids’ lunches. I would love to put a secret spy camera into my son’s lunchbox so I could see his face when he finds goggly eyes on his sandwich or magnetic letters spelling his name.  Create a pick-me-up right in the middle of your child’s day with these super easy and fun to create lunch options for kids! This shop was previously compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #HorizonLunch #CollectiveBias Here I’m sharing some FREE Lunchbox Notes and 5 Tips to Pack a Lunch with FUN!

Tip 1: Pack with Great Ingredients – I want my kids to enjoy eating and giving them tasty options for lunches or snacks is one of the ways I plan to keep them growing healthy and strong. If you haven’t heard of Horizon® products, I hope you’ll check them out – their foods include certified organic ingredients and no high fructose corn syrup; and my kids love the crunch and flavors of everything they make. Horizon® foods taste delicious and in addition to the Horizon® Squeeze Pouches and Horizon® Sandwich Crackers featured here, they also offer crunchy snack grahams, crackers, and mac-n-cheese. Plus their milk is loaded with vitamin D3 and is certified organic. Be on the lookout for their products – I think you’ll be pleased to know that packing tasty foods into kids’ lunches is now easier than ever.

FUN Lunchbox Video

To demonstrate how easy it is to pack a healthy lunch, I’ve created a short time-lapse video below. I also feature some fun “Peanuts” characters in the video – Charlie Brown and Snoopy. The Peanuts Movie opens on November 6, 2015 in theaters nationwide. Our family always gets excited when a new kid friendly movie is released, we hope to make it to the theaters to see this movie together as a family.

A video posted by Happy and Blessed Home.com (@handbhcom) on Nov 2, 2015 at 1:20pm PST

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Lunch Box Fun Tips 2- 5

Tip 2: Use Cookie Cutters – Cookie cutters are a great way to add personality to a lunch. Create star or flower shaped sandwiches, cheeses, fruits and veggies. It’s easy to add fun to a lunch when you use cookie cutters.

Tip 3: Use Googly Eyes – My kids love to use goggly eyes in the crafts we create – so why not use them to decorate lunchbox items? Create a fun zip-lock bag decorated with googly eyes, or stick googly eyes to snack containers and juice or milk boxes. Write a note and stick goggly eyes on it and watch a smile emerge when you ask your son or daughter about the surprise you packed for lunch. Tip 4: Personalize with Letters – There are so many ways to personalize a lunch. Add letter beads to a pipe cleaner, add letter stickers to a zip-lock bag, or put magnet letters on a lunchbox. With a little creativity with letters, you can add loads of fun to nearly any lunch. Tip 5: Create a Bento Box – A bento box is a themed lunch. I’ve included some photos here with a Farm themed Bento Box I created for my boys in the past. The beauty of bento boxes is they open up a world of creativity. Some fun themes to consider:

1. Underwater Sea Bento Box with goldfish crackers as the highlight.
2. Outer Space Bento Box that cuts ingredients into planets or stars using cookie cutters
3. Rainbow Bento Box that organizes contents in a rainbow color scheme ROYGBIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet)
4. Favorite Cartoon Character Bento Box – PINTEREST has loads of ideas for easy to make cartoon characters with food
5. Jungle Bento Box – think monkeys, elephants, lions, etc. You can make faces from bread, cheese or other lunch ingredients. Throw in fruits that jungle animals eat – like bananas.

Printable FREE Lunchbox Notes for Kids

Still want more fun lunchbox add-ons? I’ve created 16 different FUN designs of FREE Lunchbox Notes for kids to perk up any lunch and make it more FUN! I’ve included designs for both boys and girls so you’ll see everything from flowers to superheroes. Many of the images used are part of the public domain and can be found online.  Let kids know you’re thinking of them with these free, fun lunchbox notes.

To download your copy, just click the blue “Download Now” button below.

[sdm_download id=”14173″ fancy=”0″]

Where to find Horizon® Squeeze Pouches and Horizon® Sandwich Crackers

You can find Horizon® Squeeze Pouches and Horizon® Sandwich Crackers at Walmart. I also found most of the other supplies featured here at Walmart. Shop more fun Horizon® lunchbox ideas online at Walmart or check out the Horizon® Peanuts Website.  You can also find demonstrations offering samples of Horizon products at this link for Demo Info Link and Store List.

How do you create lunchtime fun?

Have any tips for creating a fun lunchbox for kids? What’s your favorite themed lunchbox idea? Maybe I can create one for a future post. Please leave a comment below and join the conversation. I love hearing from my readers. Blog /  Facebook /  Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram P.S. – I blog to encourage moms, offer free preschool tools, and share ideas for family fun. If you enjoy free recipes, printables, crafts and games for little ones, ideas for family fun and encouraging posts for moms, sign up and have Happy and Blessed Home delivered to your inbox. Simply enter your e-mail address here: 

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