By Pink Diva
I have two elementary-aged kids; one third grader and one first grader. They don’t care for the school lunches, so I make their lunches every morning. They like fun lunches, but I don’t have the time or the energy to do them every day. So, at our house we have Fun Food Fridays. On Fridays I pack their lunches with whatever fun theme I have come up with.
Fun Food Fridays started as a way to make their lunches more fun, but without a big commitment from me. I can commit to one day a week. Pinterest has so many fun ideas. Lots of them require special skills or ingredients or time that I just don’t have. My secret to making these lunches a success? Get yourself a whole bunch of cookie cutters!
Mickey and Princess Castle sandwiches, Disney Goldfish, and marshmallows.
Yes, you read that right, cookie cutters. Over the years I have collected a bunch of random cookie cutters. I have holiday ones, animals ones, all sorts of shapes, and even Mickey and Minnie heads. I use these cookie cutters to cut the kids’ sandwiches into fun shapes. This is what sets the tone for the lunch. It’s not always easy to get a plastic cookie cutter to cut through a sandwich, so metal ones are preferred if possible. If I’m using lunchmeat and cheese I usually cut each layer individually. Or I only cut the bread and then stick the filling in. If I’m using peanut butter or Nutella I cut it all together.
Now for the easy part. I buy pre-packaged or themed items to go with it. Goldfish has recently been coming out with fun Disney shapes-Mickey and Toy Story 4. Add these to any lunch and it’s sure to be a hit! I also like the pink Goldfish when doing a princess theme.
Disney Birthday lunches. I used a triangle cutter on Mickey and Minnie cutters.
Disney is teaming up with other brands as well. I found Superhero graham crackers, Frozen string cheese, and Mickey birthday Oreo’s. The items don’t have to have a Disney endorsement on it for it to be in your Disney lunch. My kids love Marshmallows. They come in fun shapes throughout the year. I found red, white, and blue star shapes to add to the Superhero lunch. The small ones make great snow with a snowflake-shaped sandwich for a frozen theme.
My kids also love cereal. Lucky for me, the holidays are a great time for the themed cereal to be out. Boo Berries, Franken Berry, and Count Chocula all go nicely with a sandwich cut out like a haunted house, or Haunted Mansion. For extra spookiness, add some gummy worms with some broken or small Oreo’s to look like worms coming out of the dirt.
Toy Story 4 Goldfish.
Frozen String Cheese adds easily to any lunch!
Don’t forget a cute note to go with the lunches! My kids like jokes, so that is what I send. I theme those as well. Halloween jokes in October, turkey jokes in November, and Christmas in December. When I do a Disney themed lunch, I add a Disney themed joke. Sometimes when I’m feeling extra creative I add fun stickers to the notes.
Have you ever done Disney themed school lunches? If not, hopefully this will inspire you to start doing your own Fun Food Fridays. If you have done them or do them in the future, let us know. Show us your best Disney themed lunches-I can always use new ideas!
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