Star Themed Lunches

I try to make at least one star themed lunch for Nikolai towards the end of every school year. It's my way of reminding him that he's our star and we are very proud of his achievements and hard work throughout the entire school year. This year it's slightly different, I made a few star themed lunches, probably because this will be his last year in elementary school. I've combined them in one post as the last week of school will be quite hectic for us with concerts, award ceremony and all.

I'll still be packing lunches till the last day of school for sure, just the last few days will be bento snacks since they only have to attend half days.

In this bento lunch: Main compartment contains a sandwich topped with a couple of smiley stars cut out of Gouda cheese with my small star cutter, STAR lettering and an organic granola bar. Alongside are organic baby carrots, broccoli florets, strawberries, grapes and a sting cheese. This lunch was packed in a Bentology Living Box.

In this bento lunch: Main compartment contains a couple of star shaped sandwiches topped with stars of cheddar and Gouda cheese, a Babybel cheese which I used my small star shape cutter for the cut-out, Trader Joe's yogurt stars and an organic granola bar. Sides are strawberries, organic baby carrots and broccoli florets. This lunch was packed in our Easylunchboxes urban.

Nikolai is quite particular with the number of cheese, crackers and meat whenever I sent lunchables. If it's 8 crackers, he prefers everything else to be 8 so he can stack them. Many times I've sent lunchables without counting and he suggested that I should, LOL. The bento below has 8 of each but one cracker is hidden behind, so you'll only see 7.

In this lunchables: Main compartment contains whole wheat crackers, star shaped cheddar cheese and nitrate free ham roll-ups. Sides are baby carrots, seedless grapes with a star pick, mini chocolate chips, a yogurt star and cheddar popcorn. This lunch was packed in a Planetbox rover.

In this bento lunch: Cheddar cheese star topped on a yummy sandwich. Alongside are kiwi slices and strawberries with a star pick. He also had a snack box and his daily water bottle which is not pictured. This lunch was packed in a Planetbox shuttle.

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

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You Are A Star Lunch

We had a great long weekend with Monday being Presidents Day. Last Wednesday, we attended the first and second quarter academic achievement award ceremony at Nikolai's school. It's a little different this year with the awards as they recognized and awarded  those with A Honor Roll (all A grades for the first two quarters) and another group for what is called BUGS (Bringing Up Grades). Previous years the awards were given to A and AB honor roll students (Those with at least one A and no grade lower than B) and this year I believe AB was taken off and awards were given to anyone who brought up one grade without a loss to another no matter what grade it was!! Of course it didn't affect Nikolai as he received his award for the A Honor Roll, but could be a little unfair to see one student who maintained BAAA or even BBBB not recognized watching the awarding of another for getting their first C ever from D. I think it is fine to recognize improvements with the BUGS idea but not at the expense of those with overall better performance!!!

I say this humbly, Nikolai got an "A+ Honor Roll" and we are SO PROUD of his achievements!! If you are following my blog, you may already know that he is a straight A's student. I've not seen any b's in any of his work and hope that it stays that way. There was one time he asked me what will happen if he gets a 'b' and I looked at him and said nothing. I am sure he got the message. You know, I am generally a very friendly and lenient parent and so is my hubby, but at times that can change, though thankfully not often.

I made him a star themed lunch and created it with alphabet picks. You can also use cheese or fruit leather lettering if you prefer.

In this bento lunch (packed in a Planetbox rover):

• Main compartment - Star shaped sandwich with STAR letters.
• Upper left - Peach slices.
• Lower left - Blueberries.
• Center - Babybel cheese with star cutout.
• Upper right - Cascadian farm organic granola bar and Annie's cheddar crackers.

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

 

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Space Bento

This space themed lunch was inspired by my set of cute picks. I personally love this set of picks and I may have to order another set to have on hand just in case one gets lost or damaged.

I made the star and the moon sandwiches with cutters and topped them with Asiago and Colby jack cheese. His sides were apple slices, pepper slices, Annie's organic fruit snacks and Trader Joe's rocket shaped cheddar crackers. I have the cute space picks appearing randomly just for fun! This lunch was packed in a Bentgo Kids lunchbox.

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

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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Bento

Nikolai and my hubby love gazing at the stars and they have a collection of telescopes to do so, I have joined them several times but I am not as interested in space happenings as they are. I do, however, remember singing to Nikolai the Twinkle twinkle little star song when he was younger, as my mom also sang it to me when I was little.

I was happy to have star fruit on hand to be included with his lunch and this lunch was packed in a Laptop Lunches bento box.

In this bento lunch:

• Main compartment: A square shaped sandwich topped with star shaped cheddar  cheese and fruit leather facial details, moon shaped sandwich with icing eyes and some popcorn in a silicone cup.
• Top right: Organic baby carrots and ranch in small container.
• Bottom right: Starfruit slices.
• Far right: Mozzarella string cheese

This lunch is linked to Eats Amazing Fun Food Friday

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

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Star Bento

We will be attending Nikolai's end of the school year award ceremony this afternoon and I can't wait to see his achievements. He never cease to surprise us.
I have made him star themed lunches for the past years whenever it is close to or around the ceremony time. For today, I made this quick bento since I'll be quite busy this morning before meeting up with my hubby.

 In this bento lunch:

• Star shaped sandwiches (stacked) with candy eyes and fruit leather mouth.
• Cantaloupe stars above seedless red grapes.
• Trader Joe's yogurt stars.
• Star shaped cucumber slices with a star cupcake pick.
• I included a Lunchbox love note and this lunch is packed in a Lock and Lock lunchbox.
• Linked to BentoLunch.net
• Linked to Eats Amazing: Fun Food Friday 

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

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Roll-Ups / Pinwheels Snack Bento

Happy Friday everyone! Roll-Ups or as some people call them pinwheels, are possibly the easiest bento to prepare. I sometimes use tortilla or just flatten out any bread that we have on hand, layer the other stuff on, roll it up and cut as desired! Our LunchBots Quad makes it easy to keep everything separated.

In this snack bento:

• Roll-ups using whole wheat bread and flattened with a rolling pin.
• Trader Joe's yogurt stars.
• Star shaped watermelon slice.
• Star shaped cucumber slices, nori eyes and mouth. Packed in our LunchBots Quad.

Here are the supplies or similar that I used to make and pack this snack.

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You Are A Star Bento

Today is the school term end of year award ceremony. Me and my hubby will be enjoying the day by attending the ceremony.
I made this quick and easy stars bento 'cause Nikolai is and always will be our star :)

In this bento lunch:

• Star shaped SunButter sandwiches decorated with stars of Colby and Asiago cheese. 
• Star shaped cantaloupe pieces.
• Star shaped cucumber slices with star shaped pick and Trader Joe's yogurt stars in the center. I included a Lunchbox Love note and wrote 'You Are A Star" on a blank card. Packed in our Trudeau Fuel Everest sandwich box. 
• Linked to BentoLunch.net and

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

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Bento Lunch: Star Bento

I didn't really start with a particular theme for this lunch. It is all that I could find in my refrigerator and I had to go with what I had on hand. I don't cook during the weekends unless hubby does it at times and grocery shopping is mostly done on Sundays or Mondays. Have a great weekend!

In this bento: Clockwise from top left - Seedless green and black grapes, wheat thins, lettuce and star shaped mini carrots, star shaped deli turkey and smoked gouda cheese sandwich.

Here are the items that I used to make this lunch.

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Bento Lunch: Star Onigiri & Veggie Burger Bento

Looks like I have not made onigiri in a long time for N's school lunches. His favorite veggie burgers are MorningStar Farms Grillers. We made plans for a mini vacation this weekend to celebrate my upcoming Birthday, unfortunately had to cancel due to tropical storm Issac that might turn into a hurricane, fingers crossed. We will still be celebrating with family and friends and of course with lots of food! Have a great weekend :)

In this bento: The top section contains a MorningStar Farms grillers veggie burger (halved) with provolone for eyes, nori(seaweed) for pupils, two star shaped onigiri, all on lettuce leaf. The bottom section contains blanched broccoli florets which is now his favorite veggies and watemelon cubes. Small bottle of soy sauce. First time I am sending soy sauce with him to school. Packed in LunchBots Duo.

Here are the items that I used for this lunch.

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Bento Lunch: Star Bento For Our Star

It's been a busy and fun Mother's Day weekend directly followed by many activities, parties, etc at school including our son's First Grade end of term ceremony. Since the school year is ending soon, I find my enthusiasm for bento making is fading off.
We were so proud with how well N has done and by the recognition he received. Among the awards was a trophy for his outstanding accomplishment in the accelerated reader program (AR) in which he exceeded his bonus goals "all four quarters"- his ZPD (zone of proximal development) for reading is 3.2 (3rd grade 2 months being in school) - 4.9 (4th grade 9 months being in school), "A" honor roll and for being a "Computer Technology Excellence".
This inspired his bento for today.

• Top, left to right: Star shaped green pepper, ranch in small container, sourdough pretzel sticks.
• Bottom, left to right: Star shaped watermelon, star shaped sandwiches flattened with rolling pin and topped with fruit leather alphabets.

Here are the items that I used to make this lunch.

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Bento Lunch: Star Light Star Bright 12-13

• Star shaped sandwich topped with marshmallow penguin
• Pretzels snaps topped with edible snowflakes
• Papaya 
• Mozzarella string cheese
• Packed in Lego Box

Here are the items or similar that I used to make this lunch.

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