Much needed makeover...

Hi Friends! You probably noticed that The Lucky Lunchbox looks a bit different. Well, I decided it was time to give The Lucky Lunchbox a facelift and a more custom look. We have a new header and a few other small changes. We are all still the same zany cast behind the scenes, though. I hope you like our new makeover.

Grilled cheese please...

Sometimes you've got to have a grilled cheese sandwich. Am I right? There's just something about all that ooey-gooey cheese and crunchy buttery bread......MMMMMMM!! So good and soooo comforting! My kids love grilled cheese, so it's kind of my go-to sammy in the summer since they are hard to pack in the lunchbox during school time. Z is a grilled cheese purist.....no ham, no turkey, no avocado, no condiment, just oozey cheese. My older son has a bit more of a sophisticated palate when it comes to grilled cheese. His favorite grilled cheese sandwich combo is cheese, ham, and a fried egg. Oh yeah!!! I said fried egg! Ok, so maybe not very sophisticated. But, serve it with a dill pickle spear (or 2 or 3).....super splendiferously yummy!!

Here is Z's simple (yet just as yummy) grilled cheese lunch.

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.
*grilled cheddar cheese and honey wheat bread sandwich
*green olives
*Nick's Sticks beef snack stick- These beef sticks are dye-free, nitrate-free, hormone-free, sugar-free,  antibiotic-free, and taste free. No no, no....I'm just kidding. They are actually very tasty.
*peaches and strawberries with a few sprinkles
*baby carrots with ranch dressing for dipping
*linked to : Bentolunch.net/ What's for lunch Wednesday


Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Matkins Review

Hi Friends! I'm crazy excited by this post. Today, I have a fun review for you for the Matkins reusable placemats. The world is a germy place, isn't it? And if you're like me, you cringe at the thought of your kidlets coming in contact with all that nasty germiness, and you have a purse full of hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes. Enter the Matkins placemats. Lovely Jenn over at Matkins was kind enough to send me the rocket man pattern placemat for us to test out and use. And test it we did! More on that later. We really do like the Matkins placemats. Today, I'll be sharing with you which features of the Matkins I like the most and what points to consider before purchasing.

What is Matkins?

Matkins are super fun, portable, and reusable placemat and napkin combo all rolled into one cute, tidy bundle.(See photo above.) They are designed with the child in mind. They are certain to capture the attention of toddlers, preschoolers, and young children with their fun, bright patterns. Adults will love using the Matkins, as well. They are a fun and unique way to provide a clean, germ free surface. Matkins are perfect to take on-the-go to a restaurant, picnic, camp, park play date, or anywhere a clean surface is desired. They are perfect for school lunch time. Matkins are 10" X 14" in size and are very light weight. So, they are small enough to throw into a diaper bag, purse, backpack, or tote bag.

One standout feature of Matkins that I really like is the highly stain resistant eating surface. It is PVC, BPA, and Phthalates free which makes Matkins safe for the environment and our kids. The cute patterned side is 100% cotton. We first used the Matkins at home. My little guy loved the rocket pattern. It was very quick and easy to roll out. Z wasted no time in "testing" out the stain resistant surface by drawing pictures with the ketchup and mustard from his hot dog. When he was finished, I wiped the surface clean with a damp cloth, and to my surprise, it wiped totally clean. I noticed that some (well, actually a lot) of the mustard was on the cotton pattern border on the side. I wiped as much of it off as possible, and into the laundry pile it went. The cleaning instructions were clearly stated on the tag, and the Matkins is machine washable. This is a must for me as washing something by hand is a rarity in my house. It washed up very nicely, and I chose to line dry the Matkins. There was still a very light mustard stain on the border, but it was barely noticeable. And, it was mustard, after all, so I wasn't expecting the mustard stain to be completely gone.

The second opportunity that we used the Matkins was on a trip to the zoo. The Matkins came in very handy as the zoo picnic tables were terribly nasty. Again, we dirtied it up, and I tossed it into the laundry at home. As before, Matkins washed up great. I hung it to dry again, and it looked as good as it did when I received it in the mail.

Another standout feature of Matkins that I like is the reusable napkin (minikin) and poppet. I love this title that Matkins has given the cute pocket on the placemat side. (See above.) This poppet is perfect for the small minikin. The reusable napkin was a bit small for my messy crew, but it does serve it's purpose as a small napkin. I love the fact, though, that the napkin is reusable, which also is a great help to our environment. My favorite use for the poppet is holding a small set of cutlery for Z. It is ideal for a kid-sized fork and spoon. The poppet would also be a great place to tuck a small treat or a sweet little love note from Mom. And Matkins has thought of everything. The Matkins placemat rolls up into a neat, tidy bundle, and to hold all that cuteness together, the placemat has a neat, satiny color-coordinated ribbon with a fun bead on each end.

Overall, the Matkins reusable placemats get a thumbs up from The Lucky Lunchbox. I can foresee many more great opportunities for us to use the Matkins, and I would love to have more of the fun patterns. Here is an overview of the features we love about Matkins and some of the points to keep in mind before purchasing:

Features we LOVE:
**Stain resistant surface
**Machine washable and easily cleaned
**Neat, portable, and easy to use
**May be personalized
**Makes eating lunch FUN!!
**Many cute pattern choices
**Environmentally friendly- BPA, PVC, and Phthalates free
**Reusable napkin

Points to consider: 
**Cost- Matkins retails for $16 on their website. I have found them priced at $10 on Jane.com, which is more affordable.
**The reusable napkin is very small. It was a bit small for my messy crew.
**Matkins are machine washable. But, to preserve the stain resistant side, I would line dry the placemat. This might be an inconvenience for some.


Here are 2 lunches that I've made using the Matkins placemat:

 Rockets in Space                                                         Space...It's cool!

Disclosure: Matkins generously sent me their product to review. I have received no other compensation for this post and the opinions I’m expressing here are solely my own.

Rockets in Space lunch...

Hi Friends!! Happy summer to you. I know many of you are just now ending the school year and your kids are starting summer break. I hope you all have a great summer. My kids have been out for 3 weeks now, and we are super busy. We are planning some beach time soon, and we can't wait. I'm sorry that I haven't been posting as much. But, I do have a fun review that I'm working on right now for the Matkins reusable placemats with a great giveaway to follow. Today's lunch features the rocket man themed Matkins placemat with a rocket themed lunch, of course. Look for the  Matkins review and giveaway very soon. I also used the Matkins placemat for the Space...It's Cool! lunch. Click HERE to see it.

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.
*almond butter and strawberry all-fruit spread tortilla sandwich cut into a rocket shape- I used black olives for the windows.
*apricot half sun with happy alien food pick- I made this alien pick from buttons that I found at Hancock Fabrics. I used food safe plastic toothpicks and a hot glue gun.
*homemade star shaped Parmesan crackers with rocket ship pick- This is a homemade button pick, too.
*green grapes
*carrot rounds
*Babybel cheese alien- I decorated him with a candy eye and used food safe markers for his smile.
*linked to: Eats Amazing/ Fun Food Friday


Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:
 

Summer Beachy Crab lunch

WooHoo!!! So excited!! We love summer, and we are headed to the beach very soon. We can hardly wait. The first of July cannot come soon enough. I seem to have beachitis lately, so for today's lunch, I decided to recreate a lunch that I made last summer for Z. I call it the "beachy crab" lunch. He loved it, so I thought it would be fun for him again. I took some creative inspiration from a lunch that Michelle over at Creative Food made. You can see Michelle's fun lunch HERE. Stop by and visit Michelle's blog...you will be blown away at her lunch making cuteness ability.

In this lunch:
*I used a crab shaped cookie cutter for the tortilla sandwich (Natural Selects ham and Swiss cheese) and gave him candy eyes and a carrot mouth.
*The sand is Rold Gold thin pretzel sticks.
*The palm tree is made from a Rold Gold pretzel rod and a Granny Smith apple. The coconuts are black olives cut in half.
*The beach ball is a Babybel cheese. I cut the wax to give it the beach ball stripes and added a small candy piece for the center.
*The word "summer" is cut from carrot coins. I used 1 inch alphabet fondant cutters.
*I included a small gummy candy crab.
*linked to: Bentolunch.net/ What's for lunch Wednesday


Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

3 Tools 4 Lunches challenge

Hi Friends! I'm very excited about this post. Today, I have the awesome privilege of participating in a new series hosted by Wendy of Wendolonia called 3 Tools 4 Lunches. This is a great blogging series where 4 lunch packing moms use the same 3 tools to create a fabulously fun lunch. We all need some creative inspiration at times, and this lunch challenge will hopefully give you awesome lunch packing moms just that. And, this awesome challenge will help you to see the versatility of the tools that have been used. At the end of this post, I've included a link to this week's challenge on Wendolonia where you can see the 3 other terrific lunches. Thanks Wendy for letting me participate in this super fun series!

The tools for today's challenge are: Transportation cutter/stamp set, and edible food writers, Yumbox

I love the Yumbox (you can see my Yumbox review HERE). I wanted to use at least 2 of the transportation cutters for the challenge, but, because the box is very small, it was a challenge to figure out how to use 2 cutters. So, I decided to use the car cutter/mold for the sandwiches and the boat cutter/mold for a frozen yogurt boat, and put them in separate spaces. To make the frozen yogurt boat, I poured some tiny sprinkles into the grooved areas of the stamper part and then gently spooned vanilla yogurt on top. I then put the entire cutter in the freezer to allow the yogurt to freeze for a few hours. Once frozen, I ran a bit of hot water over the outside of the cutter, and the yogurt popped out.

I used the edible food writers for the bologna car accents and for the "vroom" on the Babybel cheese.

This lunch is packed in the Yumbox.
*car shaped Natural Selects bologna and cheddar cheese sandwich with bologna car on top- I used the edible food marker for the details.
*Ritz Bitz cheddar cheese crackers
*green olives
*Babybel cheese with "vroom" written on the cheese wax with edible food marker
*baby carrots and sugar snap peas
*strawberries and cherries
*frozen yogurt boat in blue yogurt water- I added a drop of blue food color to the vanilla yogurt. If you are sending a school lunch, the frozen yogurt will have thawed by lunchtime and can be eaten with the other yogurt. I like adding frozen yogurt shapes to Z's school lunch because it helps to keep the yogurt cold and is super cute.
*Craisins in the treat cup
*linked to:Bentolunch.net/ What's for lunch Wednesday


I added a few cute transportation themed picks for some additional fun.


Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:



 Click HERE to see the details of the 3 other fabulous lunches. Then, take some time and check out the Wendolonia blog. You will not be disappointed in Wendy's lunch making awesomeness.

SPACE....It's cool!

I'm always looking for creative inspiration when it comes to Z's lunches. There are days when my wheels of creativity just aren't spinning. I saw this super cute space lunch from Selena over at How About Cookie and knew I had to copy recreate her awesome lunch. You can see Selena's great lunch HERE. I love how she repurposed the seldom used gingerbread man cookie cutter into a fun astronaut. Selena has an entire series of "gingerbread men on vacation", so stop by her blog and visit. Her blog is awesome, and her lunch making cuteness ability is off the chart.

P.S. Please note the reusable rocket ship themed placemat under today's space lunch. Yes, that's a reusable placemat. Super cute, huh?! The terrific people at Matkins were kind enough to send me one of their fabulous placemats to try out and review. This rocket ship pattern fits perfectly with Z's space lunch, doesn't it? I'm planning another lunch with it soon. Please stay tuned for an upcoming review and giveaway of Matkins in the next couple of weeks.

In this lunch:
*astronaut shaped peanut butter and strawberry all-fruit spread sandwich- I used a gingerbread man cutter for the astronaut and a piece of Swiss cheese for his helmet. I used black gel icing for his mask.
*Swiss cheese moon
*carrot stars
*apricot half for the sun
*letter shaped crackers spelling out "SPACE"- I lightly colored in the letters with food safe markers to make them stand out.
*all-natural apple sauce with a few star shaped sprinkles
*linked to: Eats Amazing/ Fun Food Friday

I found the cute "It's cool!" cupcake topper at Hobby Lobby, and it quickly found it's way into my shopping cart.



Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Alfredo tortellini with friends....

Lovely leftovers are for lunch today. My kids are pretty easy when it come to food. But, they especially love all things Alfredo. I could put Alfredo sauce on  liver and they'd gobble it up. Well, maybe not liver, but Alfredo sauce is definitely right up there as a favorite. I made Alfredo tortellini on Wednesday night and served it with some Olive Garden bread sticks. They were some happy boys.

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.
*leftover Alfredo tortellini from dinner on Wednesday night
*Olive Garden bread stick- We have an Olive Garden that's close to our house, so I will often stop by and pick up a bag or 2 to go with our dinner. Z practically inhales these...they are soooo good!
*four bean salad
*red seedless grapes
*yogurt covered raisins
*linked to: Becoming a Bentoholic/ Leftovers on Fridays


I added a few fun animal picks to cutify (yeah, it's a word) the lunch a bit.


Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Veggie dogs and mac

Dear Mother Nature,
       I understand that you have a responsibility to keep all the trees, flowers, grass, and lovely woodland creatures well hydrated. I agree this is very important job on your part. However, my children have been out of school for summer break for one week now, and you have seen fit to provide us with a healthy dose of rain every single day. My kidlets are ready for some pool time, park time, and zoo time. So, will you please move on to another part of the country?

Yes, I'm about ready to cut a deal with Mother Nature. We need some sun here in the M-town. It has rained 7 days straight, and again tomorrow, rain. We did, at least, get in an hour of pool time this morning before the downpour began. The only one happy with the weather lately is our Spoo, who loves the water, and rain is no exception. But, he's ready for some pool time, too. The hubs was quick to remind me that come the end of July, we will be begging Mother Nature for rain. I had to reluctantly agree. On the rainy agenda for tomorrow....Rio 2 and a big bucket of popcorn. What are some things you do with your kids on rainy days?

Lunch is simple today....veggie corn dogs and mac & cheese. Z polished this lunch off pretty quick.

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.
*macaroni and cheese
*Morningstar Farms veggie corn dogs with mustard for dipping
*red seedless grapes mixed with yogurt raisins
*four bean salad
*linked to:Bentolunch.net/ What's for lunch Wednesday
                 Eats Amazing/ Fun Food Friday


Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch: