12 Of My Favorite Christmas Holiday Lunches

This is, for me, and my family, the most wonderful time of the year! Truly everyday is wonderful for us, but this time of year it is even more special.

I've packed over 50 Christmas themed lunches over they years and I must admit, I LOVE them ALL, even the simplest ones. You know why? It's because each and every one of them were packed with love, and Nikolai appreciated and enjoyed them.

I've decided to feature twelve of my most favorite ones, let me tell you, it's not easy to pick these above the others, but it was great fun looking through all of the lunches which I've posted over the years.

These lunches are not in any particular order. As I mentioned earlier, I love them all!

Joy to the world is one of my favorite Christmas songs. JOY on a bell themed lunch which you can find the details HERE.

I love the strawberry and marshmallow Santa in this lunch and of course the present sandwich. Details can be found HERE.

And the stocking are hung by the chimney with care...details HERE.

We never get snow here in Florida but it's always fun to make a Snowman lunch. Details can be found HERE.

It's always fun to decorate Gingerbread Houses, and here is one made of sandwich. Find the details HERE.

Nikolai loves Winnie The Pooh and we have several Pooh Christmas ornaments. Of course I had to make a Pooh Bear Holiday themed lunch, details HERE.

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer is one of my favorite characters and I've made several Rudolph themed lunches over the years. You can find this one HERE.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree roll-ups. This is quite easy to make and you can find it HERE.

I challenged myself to make Santa's belt and I'm quite pleased with the outcome. Find the details HERE.

The Polar Express is one of our family traditions. We watch it almost every year and HERE is a themed lunch.

Nikolai was fascinated with Snowmen when he was little. HERE is one wearing ear muffs.

This is one of the easiest Christmas tree lunch I've made. I used a tree cookie cutter as separator for a lunchables style lunch. You can find the details HERE.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and an entire holiday season of good health and good fortune.

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HO HO HO Christmas Bento

Ho, Ho, Ho, Christmas is fast approaching! 🎄🎅 I hope all of you are having a great time and enjoying the Christmas season. I have at least a favorite radio channel on SirusXM playing Christmas tunes as I drive Nikolai to school and back.

Today he took along this Ho, Ho, Ho bento. Hey, that almost sounds like a cheer. Again, I kept things simple and easy, yet I hope fun for him. The three section sandwich has the HO, HO, HO  of mild cheddar cut with our alphabet cutters and a Santa pick. I included some apple slices, frosted gingerbread stars from Trader Joe's and some slices of kiwi fruit with a Merry Christmas pick. In the small section in the middle are some Annie's organic fruit snacks. This lunch is packed in a Bentgo lunchbox.

Concerts and lots of other fun activities are just ahead, so this will be the last post of the year. I truly hope you also have had a fun year and that the new year will be even better!  From our family to yours, "Merry Christmas and Have a Blessed Holiday Season."

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Frosty The Snowman Bento Lunch

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you may remember that Nikolai has LOVED snowmen ⛄ since he was little. We have collected so many snowman decorations, from snow globes to ornaments to plush toys. Over the years I've made several Snowman lunches which you can find HERE. I believe this one is the easiest of all, don't you think so?

The cookie cutter/stamper which I used for the bread was purchased from our local Five Below store last year for only $1.00.

In this bento lunch (packed in an Easylunchboxes):

• A sandwich stamped with an iconic snowman image with marshmallows for snow surrounding the lower half.
• Apple wedges in a silicone cup.
• Grapes with a snow globe pick.

Cute can be simple. Cute is fun. Simple and fun is great!

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Christmas Ornament Bento

I hope you all had a nice weekend. We had a very fun weekend with hubby's birthday celebration. It was so nice to have his birthday fall on a Saturday this year, and whenever we have a birthday occur on a Saturday, we continued the celebration till Sunday! As with any other celebration, lots of food was involved and shared with family and close friends.

Anytime, or all the time, between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a good time to be decorating a tree. We do it as something of an ongoing project, adding a few more when the inspiration occurs.

Here is a quick and simple ornaments themed lunch which was created with a circle cookie cutter.

In this bento lunch (packed in a Lunchbots quad): A couple of circle shaped sandwiches with Colby Jack cheese accents and a pick. Seedless grapes with an ornament cupcake ring, organic baby carrots, Babybel cheese decorated with some tiny circles topped with an ornament hook pick and sharing its quadrant with pretzels.

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2 Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer Lunches

You know Dasher & Dancer and Prancer & Vixon, Comet & Cupid and Donner & Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all! Rudolph the red nosed reindeer....one of my favorite songs and characters during the holidays. Rudolph themed lunches are easy to create, all you need a circle or heart shaped cookie cutter, it's quite simple and fun. You can find some of my past Rudolph themed lunches HERE.

I have made a couple of Rudolph themed lunches this year, one is with quesadilla and one with bread. This first lunch is Rudolph made of bread with a circle cookie cutter. I added a couple of pretzels for antlers, icing eyes (secured with a dab of honey) and half of a grape tomato. Kind of looks like Rudolph as a youngster perhaps?

In this bento lunch (packed in a Planetbox rover): Main compartment contains a Rudolph sandwich, sides were green grapes with a cute Rudolph cupcake ring, pretzels, yogurt covered star, string cheese and organic baby carrots.

The next lunch is made of quesadilla, and could be an older Rudolph of the one above. He seems to have that look about him that says, "I've been around the world a few times." I guess it is the eyes or something. There are actually two slices of quesadilla here separated by a piece of parchment paper. Oh! My imagination is going wild this time of year. LOL

In this bento lunch (packed in an Easylunchboxes): Main compartment contains Rudolph quesadillas (stacked), half of a granola bar and yogurt covered stars from Trader Joe's. Sides were goldfish crackers and seedless grapes in a silicone cup with a Christmas tree cupcake pick.

Enjoy your weekend!

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Christmas Tree Bento

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!🎄 Of course , as we are in Florida, Christmas here looks a little different than, say Minnesota or Vermont, though Christmas always looks good wherever you might be. It's also my favorite time of year to make some winter and Christmas themed lunches. Although life is usually especially hectic during the holidays, I decided to try my best to make at least a few fun lunches for Nikolai.

We have all been busy here and already have put up and decorated our Christmas tree, or to be more accurate, several trees throughout the house. In addition we have yard decorations, table decorations and more. It's so festive and I just love Christmas!

This is a super easy Christmas tree bento for which I used a tree cookie cutter as separator for a lunchables style lunch.

In this bento lunch: Within the confines of the Christmas tree cutter which I used as a separator I included some ham roll-ups, some chunks of Colby-Jack cheese and some colorful goldfish crackers. The moon and stars are Ritz round crackers and yogurt covered stars from Trader Joe's. There is half of a granola bar alongside the tree. In the other sections there are organic baby carrots and grapes in a silicone cup with a present pick. All of these are packed in an Easylunchboxes container.

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Christmas Stockings Bento

Happy Friday! Time is flying by like lightning lately, and I am so glad that today is the last day of school for this year. For the Christmas holiday we have a lovely tree that we decorated nicely, which was great fun for all of us. Hubby put out some decorations for the front of the house, so there is little chance that Santa could fly over without seeing it, and even the stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

This bento has a couple of stocking sandwiches already stuffed. Even without the snowman or the sledding, and even though it is way too warm to make use of a sweater or furry boots, the Christmas holiday season in Florida is very cheerful. I hope it is also where ever you are.

In this bento lunch (in a Planetbox Rover):

• Main compartment - A couple of stocking shaped sandwiches. Accents are cheddar and Colby cheese with fruit leather lettering.
• Upper left - Organic apple slices with a Christmas tree cupcake pick.
• Lower left - Seedless green grapes.
• Center - Yogurt covered star
• Upper right - Holiday edition goldfish crackers.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

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Snow Globe Bento

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, only here in FL the weather is still in the 80 degrees most of the days, which makes sledding a dream land only activity. Nikolai has been fascinated with snow globes since he was a little boy, and we have collected many of them throughout the years. and lately we have to say 'no' whenever he wants to get one.

I purchased the cookie cutter/stamper from Target last year if I'm not mistaken, and I've not seen it this year. You can recreate this by using a circle or snow globe shaped cookie cutter and a snowman fondant stamper if you have one or just a snowman cupcake pick.

In this bento lunch:

• Snow globe sandwiches (stacked) with snowflakes mozzarella cheese surrounding the globe.
• Cucumber slices and organic baby carrots with a cute snow globe cupcake pick.
• Holiday edition cheddar crackers.
• Organic apple slices.
• This lunch was packed in a leak-proof Yumbox Panino.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to create and pack this lunch.

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Snowman Ornament Lunch and DIY Lunchables

Snowman...man....man...man, was one of the words that Nikolai uttered when he was a toddler. He loved Snowmen and will get his hands on one whenever he sees them. I still remember finding an odd hand towel in my shopping bag when we got home one day. I usually get a set of towels but this was just one and it was, yes indeed, a Snowman! That little guy must have got his hands on it while sitting in the cart and nicely dropped it with my other items without me noticing. I still have that towel and every year I'll get it out and share this story with him and others.

A couple of year ago he made a snowman ornament at school and it's hanging on our Christmas tree again now. Our cute ornament inspired this lunch.

In this bento lunch:

• I used a circle cookie cutter for Snowman sandwich and topped with a slice of mozzarella cheese. His eyes and mouth are made from raisin bits, carrot nose and the pick to make it like the ornament.
• Top left are organic baby carrots and a cucumber slice cut into ornament shape with my small cookie cutter.
• Top right are some pear pieces in a silicone cup with a snowman cupcake pick. This lunch was packed in an Easylunchboxes container.

Here is a Kids DIY Christmas lunchables. I have some cute cupcake picks, which add a festive feel for this time of year. I used them to spruce up the lunchables.

In this lunchables:

• Ritz crackers, ham slices, holiday edition goldfish crackers, mozzarella cheese slices. 
• Cucumber slices cut into Christmas tree shapes.
• Orange slices and seedless green grapes.
• This lunchables was packed in his Easylunchboxes container.

Here are the supplies that I used to create and pack these lunches.

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O Christmas Tree Bento

I just noticed that the last day of school for this year is on Dec 18th. I guess I am more excited than Nikolai is, lol. We finally mailed out most of our International packages and the post office is super busy this time of year. My poor hubby had to stand in line for around 30 minutes while I sat in the car and waited for him. I am sure we'll be going there again at least a couple of times before Christmas.

This is a quick and easy Christmas tree bento which I got the inspiration from a roll-ups appetizer platter. I was looking online for appetizer ideas for Christmas eve and thought I'll shrink the platter idea and made it into a small tree which fits into a bento box. :)

In this bento lunch: Whole wheat bread roll-ups arranged to look like a tree with a bread crust tree trunk and a yogurt covered star. Alongside are organic apple slices, Greek yogurt covered fruit snacks, holiday edition goldfish crackers and cucumber slices. This lunch was packed in a Bentgo lunchbox.

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Santa Claus Christmas Lunch

Have your kids taken pictures with Santa yet? For us it is usually a pretty fun time and the event is remembered years later. Nikolai took his last week, all dressed up and looked as handsome as can be!

I made a simple Santa lunch this year using my cutter/stamper set which I purchased from Target several years ago. I also created a Santa belt babybel cheese. I had some black felt from which I made the belt and some yellow construction paper for the buckle. Along with the Santa belt and babybel cheese in the silicone cup, he has red and green Annie's Organic crackers and in the other two sections he has carrots and grapes with a Merry Christmas pick. This lunch was packed in a Lunchbots quad.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to create and pack this lunch.

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Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer Lunch

'Tis the season of Christmas themed lunches and again I'll start our first Christmas bento lunch of the year with Rudolph. While looking back at previous years, I noticed the interesting coincidence that every year on December 3rd, I posted a bento lunch featuring the Rudolph theme. Perhaps it might become a tradition (though I'll make no promises), as the famous reindeer makes another appearance for a Dec.3rd lunch. You can see the other previous lunches here 

This lunch was quite simple to create, I used my heart shaped cookie cutter for the face, a couple of candy eyes, and I used a lip pop for Rudolph's red nose. The antlers are from bread ends which I free hand cut with a paring knife (you can also use a pair of scissors). His sides were organic baby carrots with a Christmas tree cupcake pick, organic apple slices and string cheese. This lunch was packed in a Bentology living bento box.

Here are the supplies that I used to create and pack this lunch.

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Santa Bento #646

Today is the last day of school before the year end break and this will be my last Christmas themed bento before the holidays. I have several winter themed lunches and those will be posted next year in January when we get back.

I have made a couple of Santa bentos previously, one of them with a strawberry hat. This time I used thin slices of apple instead, and a flower cutter to make the beard and eyebrows. I free hand cut the furry part of the hat from the same provolone cheese, used raisin bits for eyes and a cherry tomato for the red nose. The ball at the top of Santa's hat is a marshmallow.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

In this bento lunch:

• Main compartment: Santa sandwich, cereal bar with Christmas tree pick.
• Top left: Holiday themed cheddar crackers with a Merry Christmas cupcake pick.
• Bottom left: Grape tomatoes and a Christmas tree shaped cucumber.

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Gingerbread Man bento

Yesterday we made a visit the school to enjoy the Young Inventors Fair in which Nikolai and the other students in the gifted program exhibited their latest ideas. Nikolai submitted a device for capturing the energy in ambient noise and converting it for use in charging batteries. There were so many other great ideas, some very simple, but quite elegant solutions to problems, others of a truly grand scale and every bit as clever. The kids are all so talented!

What would be a gingerbread cookie is in this example a sandwich made with honey wheat bread. Where there would be icing I used provolone cheese. I used bits of raisin for eyes and fruit leather for a scarf, holding them in place with a dot of honey.
He is not too keen on bell peppers lately, but I included a couple of pieces anyway hoping that he'll give them a try again.

In this bento lunch:

• Gingerbread man sandwiches (stacked)
• Organic persimmon slices and gingerbread man pick
• Cucumber slices and red bell pepper slices.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to create  this lunch.

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Candy Cane Christmas bento

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Nothing else is quite like a grade school production of Charlie Brown's Christmas for getting in the holiday mood. We truly enjoyed the one presented by the combined efforts of the drama club, choir, and band at Nikolai's school last week.

This was a fun lunch for me to make though it took me a little more time than many of my other lunches. The carving of the apple was a challenge as I am not very steady with cutting small details. The candy cane sandwiches were made with a cutter and some fruit leather cut to make stripes. A small candy cane shape was also cut into the outer covering of a babybel cheese and the cut out portion was cut into pieces to make the stripe design.

This lunch was packed in a Fit and Fresh bento box, and this is the last week of school before the holidays.

In this bento lunch:

• Main compartment: Candy cane sandwiches and babybel cheese in a silicone cup. Rice crackers.
• Top left: Cucumber sticks and grape tomatoes with a candy cane cupcake pick.
• Top right: Apple slices

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to create and pack this lunch.

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Christmas Ornaments bento

I used an ornament cutter from my adorable set of Christmas cookie cutters/plungers to create the sandwiches for this lunch. The light bulbs cupcake picks are some of my favorites and I have owned them for years. This lunch was packed in a LunchBots Quad.

In this bento lunch:

• Bottom left: Stamped ornament sandwiches.
• Bottom right: Babybel cheese with a pick and holiday themed cheddar crackers.
• Top left: Sugar snap peas and grape tomatoes.
• Top right: Apple slices and seedless red grapes.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to create and pack this lunch.

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