Easy ways to Pack a Fun Lunch
Packing kids lunches for school doesn’t have to be boring!
The daily grind of lunch packing and school lunches can get old really fast - for the busy mom (or dad!) doing the lunch packing, but also for the kids. But it’s not hard to mix it up and make lunch packing more fun, so why not give it a try? Especially on those extra special days of the year - why not make the lunch just a little extra special too. I’ve got easy tips for you to pack fun lunches for birthdays, holidays, or other special occasions that will only take you a few extra minutes, or maybe even less than that.
These tips aren’t just for special occasions - they can be for every day lunch packing too. Particularly if you are struggling with how to get your kid to eat their lunch at school - and I hear so many concerns from parents about kids lunches coming home uneaten and kids being hungry at the end of the day - these simple tips to make lunch more fun will also help ensure that you are packing a lunch that your child actually wants to dive in to.
As humans we are visual creatures - we are drawn to things that are pleasing to look at. And kids are no exception to that. One of my top tips for getting kids to eat their lunch at school is to take the extra minute or three and make the lunch just a little more fun to look at and eat. I can almost guarantee that if you pack the same foods in a slightly more fun way, your kiddo is much more likely to eat it.
Easy ways to make lunch fun:
Here are my top easy ways to make lunch more fun.
Keep reading for the detail about each of these tips.
Accessorize the lunch with fun picks (or even cupcake toppers)
Cut sandwiches and other foods in fun shapes
Add a little extra bright color with napkins and silicone cups
Use silicone cups in fun shapes that match the holiday theme
Put food on sticks (kids love this!)
A quick fun idea for the 100th day of school.
Want my top tips for easy lunch packing?
I’ve put all my best tips for getting started with school lunch packing into an easy ebook for you, and I’ve also made printable versions of my lunch packing grocery lists and planning templates. Be sure to check out my downloads section for those.
More detail!
1) Accessorize with fun picks
This is the easiest thing in the world to do. If you have a stock of fun little bento picks, toothpicks, or even extra cupcake toppers, it takes just seconds to stick a few in an ordinary lunch and instantly transform it into something special. The options of fun picks available are practically endless. I’ve saved some of my all time favorites here in my Amazon Store.
Here are just a couple examples of lunches that have a pick added - see how much more fun they are?
A simple birthday lunch with an extra cupcake topper.
The little eyes are probably my favorite of all my bento picks.
It's just a sandwich and fruit, but the little pick turns it from a boring lunch to a fun lunch.
A simple tortilla roll made extra fun with little pinwheel cocktail picks.
2) Cut sandwiches and other foods in fun shapes
Another one that really takes maybe an extra minute if you have the right supplies. You can buy cutters that are made just for sandwiches, but I have also used lots of regular cookie cutters for cutting sandwiches and other foods. You can easily get so creative with what you can cut, and it’s the simple little touches that really stand out.
You’ll find some of my favorite cutters in my Amazon Store.
Check out these examples of ways I have gotten creative with cutters for fun and easy lunches.
A round biscuit or cookie cutter and a little cutout in just the top slice of bread.
A fun lunch for spring with a bunny and a little flower pick.
Here I used a little heart cutter to make a shape in the wax coating of the cheese.
3) Add bright fun color with napkins and silicone cups.
It’s amazing how the whole look of the lunch can change when all you did was stick a fun party napkin in there. It really doesn’t take much, just a pop of color, to make the lunch look so much more fun, and that makes kids want to eat it!
Fun colors of silicone cups in the lunchbox can have the same impact, and they are great because they are reusable.
I have so many examples of lunches that I have used this trick with if you brows my other lunch pages, but here are just a few of my favorites.
A bright red napkin makes this Valentine's Day lunch really pop!
Green napkins for these Halloween pumpkins!
These bright blue and green silicone cups are one of my most used lunch items, and see how I made this lunch extra fun with a few picks in the grapes.
4) Use silicone cups to add fun shapes for holiday themes.
You can get silicone cups in all kinds of fun shapes now - my favorites are hearts and stars, and you can see how just adding those fun shapes to the mix make the lunch instantly look more appealing and feel like a little celebration in a box. Here is a link to a fun set that gets you stars, hearts, and flowers.
Festive blue stars make this feel like a holiday lunch with no extra effort.
Heart shaped silicone muffin cups instantly make this breakfast for lunch feel full of love. And these muffins are so easy to make - they are just pancake batter poured in muffin cups!
5) Put the food on a stick.
Seriously kids love eating food from sticks - little skewers, cocktail picks, fun toothpicks, etc. I don’t know why, but they do. I don’t always recommend this for the littlest ones, we don’t want anybody poking their friends with sticks, but for the older elementary ages it can be a really fun way to mix up the otherwise boring lunch.
One of my other top tips for getting kids to eat their lunch is giving them foods that are already in bite sized pieces. It just makes the food more approachable and they feel like they can eat it better in the short amount of time they have. So cut up those bigger items into bite sized pieces and put them on a stick.
The ingredients of a simple homemade lunchable, but I've put the ham and cheese on little skewers. And look at those cute little critter bento forks!
Bite sized pieces of leftover cheeseburger on sticks. And see how I added a little piece of deli paper underneath for a bit of extra color? You can find the deli paper and the little spoons in my Amazon store.
I have loads more examples of lunches that include all of these fun tips and more, so be sure you are browsing through my other lunch pages so you never run out of lunch ideas.