Back to school means back to school lunches. Not sure I’m quite ready to dust off those lunch boxes, but it’s time. I am always looking for more ideas, suggestions and inspiration as to what to pack in our lunchboxes. I know I can get bored with the lunches I pack, and I’m certain my kids get bored eating them! So I thought it would be fun to do a round of up of some of the great ideas for school lunch packing that can be found around the blog-o-sphere.
Packing the same thing day after day can get a bit boring (for me and the kids) so finding ways to make lunches creative, but simple enough to make at the crack of dawn, is important. I have rounded up over 50 fun ideas, tips, and tricks for making a great school lunch. Check out what other bakers, cooks, bloggers, crafters and parents around the web have been putting into their lunchboxes. They all look amazing but don’t worry, most of them are really quite simple to make!
I will start off with a few of my own ideas…
Fun & Easy Ideas For School Lunches by Love From The Oven
Our Lunch Box Routine (Lunches Kids Will Eat)
Free Printable Lunch Box Love Notes
My Favorite Lunch Boxes, Ice Packs & Water Bottles
Lunch Box Supplies And Tools by Love From The Oven
Now let’s see what other bloggers are making for lunch!
Cute School Lunch Ideas For Kids from Skinnytaste
Free Printable Lunch Box Notes from Skip To My Lou
Back To Basics Lunch By iPackLunch at Following In My Shoes
Easy Cute Bentos With Stickers by Just Bento
30 Days of Lunchbox Recipes: No Repeats by Peanut Blossom
Project Lunchbox by Family Fresh Cooking
Lunchbox Love Notes Free Printable by Parents Playground NWA
Lunchbox Heros by How Does She
OMGuac Your Lunch from Eat Wholly
Free Printable Lunch Box Idea List from Wendolonia
The Little Dipper Lunch Box by Detroit Mommies
Healthy Back To School Lunches by iPackLunch
13 Ways To Use Tortillas In Your Lunch Packing by Evolving Motherhood
DIY Lunchbox Icepacks by My Kitchen Escapades
Submarine Lunch by Lisa Storms
Back To School Lunch Making Supplies from Family Fresh Meals
Quick & Easy Mommy & Me Bento Lunches by Creative Food
The I Love You Bento by Following In My Shoes
Creating A School Lunch Station from Uncommon Designs
A Week Of Leftovers For Lunch From Keeley McGuire
Checkers Lunch by This Lunch Rox
Feeling Like A Snow Cone From Feeling A Little Lunchy
30 Second Wow Lunches from Momables
2 Tricks For Packing “Real Food” School Lunches by 100 Days of Real Food
An Amazing School Lunch by another lunch
Teaching Kids To Pack Their Own Lunches by Rage Against The Minivan
Sticky Stacky Sandwiches by Super Healthy Kids
Easy Wraps & Roll-Ups For Kids by Mondernmami
Turkey Bento by Glory’s Mischief
Birthday Lunch by Happy Home Fairy
A Sweet Lunch by BentOnBetterLunches (I spy a PEEP!)
Pizza Bento Lunch Box by AnnaTheRed at Parenting.com
Lunchbox Makeover by Scissors And Spatulas at Crafting With Freckles
Green Eggs & Ham Bento by Following In My Shoes
Lego Lunchbox from A Boy & His Lunch
Free Back To School Lunch Printables by Printabelle at Catch My Party
Sandwich Ideas from Wendolonia
Easy Lunch Box Fun from Little Wonders’ Days
Spring Lunchboxes by Family Fresh Meals at Betty Crocker
A Very Hungry Caterpillar Lunch By Eats Amazing
Pizza Buns Simple School Lunch by Simple As That
Silly Salad School Lunches by Keeley McGuire
Your Cheat Sheet For Healthy School Lunches from Honestly
Packing A Zero-Waste School Lunch by Pandora’s Deals
OMGuac Your Lunch Pizza by Eat Wholly
Under The Sea Boxed Lunch by Happy Food, Healthy Life
Back To School Organization by Sunny Side Up
Cool School Lunch Planner Free Printable by The Organized Parent
Originally posted August 2013. Updated August 2016.
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Holly Waterfall says
What wonderful ideas! My son gets such a kick out of fun lunches like these. He would especially love that lego lunch box though! Thanks for sharing all the inspiration!
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
Isn’t that Lego lunchbox great! My daughter is part of her school’s First Lego League team, so we love all things Lego. I’ve even made some Lego cupcakes, in the school colors of course! https://www.lovefromtheoven.com/2012/11/23/lego-cupcakes-for-first-lego-league/
Holly Waterfall says
Ha and I didn’t even notice that my under the sea lunch was part of the roundup… thank you!
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
🙂
Olivia @ Liv Lives Life says
Thanks for the great roundup! I don’t have kids, but some of these are nice ideas for me – I’ll be student teaching and will still need to pack a lunch!
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
Olivia – I think student teachers deserve a fun lunch! We can all use a cheery fun lunch actually. 🙂 Good luck with the student teaching, my brother, his wife and another one of my sisters in law are all teachers, so lots in our family!
Michelle | Creative Food says
Such a great round up of tips for Back to School Lunches! Thank you for including my Quick & Easy Mommy & Me Lunches! 🙂
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
Thank you Michelle!!! I love the Mommy & Me Lunches. I find I often make my kids lunch then just grab or snack on whatever. I love the idea of packing myself one as well while I’m at it. 🙂
Happy Home Fairy says
Wow! This round-up is AMAZING! Thank you for including the Fairy!
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
Thank you Happy Home Fairy!
Lisa says
Such a great list Christi!! I love this! Pinning! (Also, I totally need it.)
Lindsay says
What a fantastic round up! Pinned this one for sure. Appreciate you including Pandora’s Deals! Happy new school year!
Michelle says
Thanks so much for including my printables! I was just scrolling through your post, enjoying all the ideas and then I saw my lunch notes! These ideas would make school very fun!
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
Michelle, thank you – I love the printables! I’m a big fan of tucking in a note on days where I know there is a big test, presentation or something else that might be helped with a little pick me up. One of those things I hope my girls look back one day and remember. 🙂
Michelle says
I think that it is definitely the little things that make a difference! Whether it is a note or the time you took to make their lunches special, I know that my kids really appreciate it and say things like, “Remember the time you put… in my lunch.” I think it shows our love mostly and that is the very most important thing of all for children.
Becky says
Oh brother? Seriously? It’s no wonder we’re raising a generation of spoiled brats when lunch has to be a major production.
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
Becky, by all means, feel free not to make lunches this way. I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure that by packing my daughter’s lunch into some reusable containers (cut down on all the waste of plastic bags and packaging) and tucking in a sweet note here or there hasn’t made my child a spoiled brat or been a major production. I can say it has inspired her to be more creative and she eats a healthy lunch, both of which I’m fine with. As a mom I’m into supporting other moms, whatever works for them – use what you find helpful, don’t use what you don’t, but no need to criticize. 🙂
Keeley McGuire says
That’s a bit harsh, Becky. For some of us, our kids have food allergies and we *have* to pack lunch every day. Why not make it fun & healthy?! My daughter misses out on enough – class parties, treats, etc – so I will gladly make her smile and proud of her “special diet foods” by taking 15 minutes of my evening on her lunch for the next day. That’s not being a “spoiled brat”.
feeling a little lunchy says
My kids don’t have any allergies…but packing their lunches like this has created a bond between us that negative nellies like you cannot squash. They’re not brats. They do eat plain foods too. What’s the biggest thing we all get from this? LOVE. They know that they are loved and that I took the time to give them something tangible to prove it. Is that so bad? You took the time to post negatively about it…when maybe you should have taken some time trying to make someone happy and loved. And another thing…did you not even think that there are REAL people behind these things? We aren’t robots or simply websites. We are mothers…just trying to do our jobs…as mothers.
Trish @ Uncommon Designs says
What a fabulous resource to spice up your kids lunch! Thanks for including our lunch station!
Take care,
Trish
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
You are welcome Trish! I love the idea of the lunch station. If you have everything together it makes packing lunches easier, which makes mornings smoother – something we can all use!
Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting says
Christi – what a great round up! Bookmarked this, thank you!
I wanted to share that I, too, have a school lunch project on my site called “Operation Awesome School Lunch” that you might want to take a look at. I’m restarting this program again on Monday (when the kids begin school again). This page features our lunch ideas from last year and will be updated Monday-Friday http://crazyadventuresinparenting.com/operation-awesome-school-lunch
ce.leb says
thank you, christi!
even so I dont have kids on my own, I think its super important to let them lern that eating regular and healthy can also be fun!
I dont make lunchboxes for kids, I often make them for my spouse – there is nothing better than a wonderful packed lunch at work!
(and dont be stressed with not so nice comments ;))
thank you for inspiration every week,
best wishes,
celeb
Laura @ Lauras Baking Talent says
What fun ideas.. I think they could make grown up lunches more fun as well 🙂
Nina Kowalski says
Hello Christi!
I just wanted to say I really enjoy your website! It is very user friendly and the content is amazing. I love your creativity with the lunchboxes. Using a cookie cutter to make different shapes with fruits can make a big difference for children. It is always good to have a fun factor involved to get kids eating more healthy. Colors can also make a big difference.
I love your creation!
Thank you for sharing.
Keeley McGuire says
Great round up! Thanks for featuring some of our lunches/ posts!!
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
Thank you Keeley! 🙂
feeling a little lunchy says
Fantastic list and so honored that you included me in it! Thank you so much!!
Rachel @ Following In My Shoes says
A very fun and cheerful round-up…. thank you so much for including a few of our lunches. 🙂
Deb says
I commented on the wrong post because I got to looking around so much! 🙂
Your blog is just beautiful! Thank you so much for including me! I think you did a nice job at showcasing lunches at all different levels of detail!
Sarah Romer says
Great round up! We’re only three weeks in to our school season here, and I have already hit a “wall” when it comes to the lunch department, and thought this was great. I shared it on my website today at http://casper.kidsallaround.com/index.php/2013/09/02/making-a-great-school-lunch/ Thanks again for the inspiration!
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
Thanks so much Sarah! 🙂
selena says
This is AWESOME. Thanks for all the great ideas. For any naysayers out there, I was one of those who would look at bentos and be like, yeah no thanks. But once I got into it I realized a couple things:
1. My kids actually ate healthier. As in, cherry tomatoes were actually consumed. That alone is worth it to me.
2. Lunchtime is something my kids look forward to and a way to feel connected to me in the middle of a long school day apart from family.
3. My family’s relationship with food began to change. Main meals were no longer a means to earning dessert, but became a treat in themselves.
4. It doesn’t take that long to pack lunch. For real.
Seriously if I can do it, anyone can. A peek at a few lunches I’ve packed: http://howaboutcookie.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/bento-school-lunches/
Sonia says
These are too cute to eat.. Thanks for the tips!