Rhett's Lunches

I have a VERY picky eater on my hands.  Some days it seems he'll go all day long without eating simply because he doesn't like what I'm serving.  So, when it came time to send him to preschool, I knew I'd have to get creative with his lunches or he'd likely starve.  And, I was right, some days he did come home starving, and some days (very few) he came home with a completely empty lunch box!  Luckily, I stumbled across this precious blog, and fell in love with her creativity!  She has links to some other sites and I seriously couldn't believe the creativity these people have when preparing lunches for their children!  It honestly is a work of art.  My lunches for Rhett are no where near that creative or artistic (seriously, there are only so many words that start with letter X!), but I did have fun doing them this year!


This was the lunch I did on the first day of school.  Because I didn't know if they would follow the alphabet or not, I started with a themed, but more generic lunch.  The note says, "You are O-FISH-ALLY a preschooler", and everything in the lunch revolved around the fish theme. It had a  Fish-shaped sandwich, goldfish crackers, fish fruit snacks, carrots cut into fish, and grapes inside a fish container.

Letter A Lunch:

Cheese sticks wrapped with turkey, held together with apple pics, an apple cookie, applesauce, an apple cinnamon nutri-grain bar, and chips with an apple sticker. 

That week, Rhett got the flu, so there was no second lunch for letter A :(

Letter B Lunches:

B is for: Baseball sandwich, banana, letter b cheezits, blueberries, brownie, butterscotch pudding, and broccoli

B is for: Bunny shaped lunch meat, bunny crackers, bunny fruit snacks, bears (teddy grahams), letter b cheese, beef jerkey and a banana (you can write on a banana with a toothpick, let it sit over night and your message will appear the next morning.  I think this one said "Bananas are Best"...the photo was taken just after writing, but the next morning it really showed up well).

Letter C Lunch:

C is for: caterpillar fruit (grapes and blueberries), chocolate covered cranberries, chips, chocolate pudding, and a circle- shaped sandwich.

C is for: CARS!  This lunch included a car shaped sandwich, the word car spelled out in cheese, a fruit car (apple and grapes), cars cookies, and wheels on his chip pack and yogurt to look like little cars.


Letter D Lunches:

D is for: Dinosaur sandwich, doritos, apple Dip, Donuts and D cheese

D is for: Duck sandwich, doritos, D cheese and fruit and treats that are Delicious (a stretch), and a special doggy note

Letter E Lunches:

E is for: Elmo. This one was my favorite! I put his jelly sandwich open face, used marshmallows and chocolate chips to make the eyes, a football shaped oreo for the nose, a vanilla wafer for the mouth.  For the rest of his lunch, I used the words to "Elmo's World" song to finish it off: Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayon too (pretzel dipped in colored chocolate and wrapped in construction paper).  I printed out a pic of elmo and glued it to the top of his applesauce that day, and cut out the word "elmo" in cheese.

E is for: Egg sandwich, E cheese, letter E cheezits, letter E cut out of organic fruit strips, an e made out of grapes, and an excavator yogurt.

Letter F Lunches:

F is for: Football!  A football helmet sandwich, a football sandwich, the letter F and Football laces cut out of organic fruit strips, football shaped pretzels, a football shaped brownie, a chocolate pudding made to look like a football, goal post made out of grapes, and a football jersey note.

F is for: Flower sandwich, fritos, foot-shaped cheese, fruit roll up, fire hydrant organic fruit strip, and fish crackers.

Letter G Lunch:

G is for: Ghosts!  A ghost sandwich with chocolate chip eyes and mouth, a ghost cheese, a ghost drawn on his pudding, ghost toes (marshmallows), ghost eyeballs (grapes), and ghost hair (?) (his chips--again, a stretch)

The school provided pizza for the next g day.

Letter H Lunches:

H is for: Hearts!  A heart shaped lunch, heart shaped dessert, hershey bar, letter H made out of cheesesticks and beef jerkey, "hearty" applesauce, and haystacks (chips)

This was letter H day, but was also cowboy day at school, so I tried to incorporate both: a cowboy Hat and boot sandwiches, Horse Hay (chips), cactus cheese, lasso fruit by the foot, a yogurt turned 10 gallon Hat.  And, a note that Woody says: Hey Howdy Hey!  Have a Happy Day!

Letter I Lunches:

I is for: Igloo pudding, Ice cream cone sandwiches, letter I's made out of cheese sticks and beef jerkey, and candy, and another stretch, but if I couldn't come up with something for his chips, I would ask him to make the letter out of his chips that day :)

Next we were getting close to thanksgiving, so I made his lunch all about American Indians:

Then, I made a "Thanksgiving" meal: "Turkey" sandwich with beef jerkey legs, pilgrim hat pudding, cornbread dressing (chips), and raisins with a note that said, "I'm "grapeful" for you".

 The school provided a Thanksgiving lunch, so I have no letter J themed lunches.

Letter K Lunches:

 K is for: kitten sandwich, and K shaped sandwich, a K made out of cheese stick and beef jerkey, a kit kat, a hershey kiss, kiwi, and chips that I again asked him to make into a letter K :)

 K is for: king sandwich, pretzel sticks that I asked him to make into a letter K, hershey kiss, special K granola bar, special K fruit bar, and kite yogurt.

 This was the day before their Christmas party, so a snowman only seemed fitting.  He had a real carrot nose, a brownie hat, chip arms, a fruit strip scarf, and skittle buttons. 


 Letter L Lunches: (Funny story about Letter L: When he returned to school from Christmas break, I assumed they would just pick up where they left off on their letters.  After the second L lunch, the teachers sent a note home saying they were reviewing all they had learned from before break that week, and would pick up with letter L on the following week.  So, I made 4 letter L lunches and by the end, I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with L words.) :)

 L is for: Lamb sandwich, a letter L made out of cheese stick and beef jerkey, "letters" (scrabble tile fruit snacks), I asked him to use his chips to make the letter L, and love glued to the top of his applesauce.

 L is for: L shaped sandwich, organic fruit strip, and cheese, a lemon starburst, a mini cupcake that I told him to Lick the icing, and chips that I once again asked to make into letter L.

 L is for: L shaped sandwich, fruit strip and cheese, lamb sandwich, letter fruit snacks and my go to on chips.

 L is for: Ladybugs!  A ladybug sandwich, L shaped fruit strip and cheese, and ladybug jello.  I think I just left the chips alone on this one :)

Letter M Lunch:

 M is for: Mickey!  Mickey mouse shaped sandwich, mini cheese, Mickey glued to the top of his applesauce, Mickey's named spelled out of fruit strips, and of course, Milk!

M is for: Monster Truck Sandwich (Rhett's fav), marshmallows, moose pudding, letter M fruit strips (and what was supposed to be letter M cheese, but didn't turn out right), chips, and Milk

Letter N Lunches:

 N is for: Nemo!  Nemo sandwich, nemo fruit snacks, a fishing pole snack bar, and coral reef chips :)

 N is for: Ninja sandwich, letter N cut out of fruit strips, nest of chips and candy, Letter N made out of cheese sticks, a nerds rope and a nutrigrain bar.

 

 Letter O Lunches:

 O is for: Owl sandwich, oreos, Jell-O, orange starburst, and tree branch chips (because owls like to sit on tree branches :))

 O is for: Oranges, octagon sandwich, oreos, octopus cheese, organic milk, orange starburst, and fritOs.

Letter P Lunches: (Apparently this week, I only took photos of the sandwiches?!?)

 P is for: Phineas cheese and Perry the Platypus Sandwich

P is for: Pig (I tried to make this one look like one from Angry birds), puzzle piece cheese, and pepperoni.

Letter Q lunch:

Q is for: Quarter sandwich, quilt cookie, quail's nest chips, and quarter yogurt

Letter R Lunches:

 

R is for: Railroad crossing sandwich, rocket cheese, rocket yogurt, radio fruit snacks, and I asked him to make his chips into the letter R.

R is for: Robot sandwich, rabbit cheese, again, asked him to make his chips into letter R, and a little note on top of the applesauce that says, "Rhett loves applesauce" (again- stretching it!)

Letter S Lunch:

 S is for: Star sandwich, and  the word, star, cut out of organic fruit strips, stars cut out of cheese and pepperoni, starburst, a strawberry, and I think I finally just gave up on the chips here!

S is for: Smiley face, cheese Stick, I can't remember what I wrote about the turkey and ham down in the bottom right corner, and chips with no theme :)

Letter T Lunch:

 T is for: Teddy bear!  Teddy bear sandwich, cheese, teddy grahams, teddy bear applesauce, gummy bears, and teddy bear stuffing (chips).  They also had a teddy bear tea party this day, so this theme was a no brainer!

 

T is for: Train sandwich and Thomas the Train fruit snacks, turkey, cheese sticks made into a letter T, and my go to for chips

Letter U Lunches:

This was the day they celebrated the Un-Birthday.  I chose to do a birthday type lunch for this one with a party hat wearing sandwich man, present cheese, curly ribbon, birthday napkins, and even wrapped his yogurt like a present that day.

U is for: U.F.O. applesauce, umbrella cheese (babybel was great for that one!), and I got real creative (ha!) and put his sandwich Under his cheese and then wrote a note asking where it was.

Letter V Lunches:

V is for: Volcano sandwich with red icing lava, velociraptor applesauce, violin fruit strip with cheesestick violin bow, and a donut stick that I put a heart on and called it a Valentine (ha!).  I even included a napkin that we had leftover from valentines day.

V is for: vroom vroom!  Car sandwich and fruit strip, racecar applesauce, and a Valuable trophy made out of cheese

Letter W lunches:

 W is for: Wavy chips, a wizard hat yogurt, a W made out of cheese on a 'wich.  He also had welch's fruit snacks (not pictured).

Letter X Lunch:

X is for: X marks the spot sandwich, xylophone cheese and fruit strips, x-ray applesauce, and an eXtra special banana.

X is for: X-men: X shaped sandwich, wolverine cheese and fruit strips and x-men yogurt

Letter Y Lunch:

Y is for: yacht sandwich with fruit strip sails, yogurt, letter y made out of cheesesticks, and a Yummy banana

Y is for: Yoyo.  A yoyo sandwich, cheese and brownies that spell the word yoyo, yoyo applesauce, fruit by the foot yoyo, and chips.


Letter Z Lunch:

Z is for Zoo: a tiger sandwich, cheese cut into the word zoo, bear food (chips), and gummy bears behind a cage.

The school provided lunch for the second letter z day.

The week after they finished up the alphabet, they did a unit on bugs.  Rhett requested that his lunch go along with the bug theme.  Honestly, I was happy to oblige because I was stumped on what to do now that they were finished with letters!

This lunch included butterfly sandwiches, a centipede cheese stick, and spider applesauce.

The following school day, he had a spider sandwich with cheese for the legs, a bumblebee yogurt, a flower cookie with a butterfly note, and an apple with a "worm" coming out of it!

The following week was just a review week, so I let Rhett pick what his theme was.  This week, he requested cars, so we had a truck sandwich with car cheese, a spare tire taped to the top of his applesauce,  coolant water, suspension spring chips, and spare tire donuts.
 

 The following school day, he requested another train lunch, so he got a train sandwich, thomas the train fruit snacks, railroad track chips, and railroad crossing yogurt, a water bottle that said, "chugga chugga", and an apple with a little note that said, "don't forget to chew chew".  Corny, but he loved it!

 The day before the last day of school, they were learning about summer.  So, I made this little beach scene up on his sandwich, using cheese and fruit strips for the sun, a fruit by the foot for the water, a chip for the float, a gummy bear lounging on the float, a mini drink umbrella shading him, a crushed up graham cracker for sand.  I covered his applesauce to look like a beach ball, and covered his water bottle label to make it look like sunblock.

(Wow, most of those are terrible photos!) 
I hope this has inspired you to get creative with your kids' lunches.  I feel like not only was it fun for him to open and see what his lunch was daily, but it also helped him with the first steps to reading.  He often asks me how to spell something, and after I started doing this, I noticed that he was taking an even bigger interest in learning to spell, and remembering some of these lunches along the way!

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