Week in Bentos - 12/16 - 12/20

I realize this is way far behind. What can I say? It's the holidays! For it being the week before Christmas these bentos ended up being a little lack luster, but the week flew by so fast, and there was so much going on, I wanted to say, "are you sure it's not Christmas break yet?!" Anywho...

Monday - Homemade whole wheat pancakes with chocolate chip eyes & mouth, carrot nose, cheese scarf and pomegranate buttons, served with syrup. Cheese stick bites, hard boiled egg bear with little Holly leaf and berry, and apple strawberry applesauce pouch.

Tuesday- Tomato star soup, carrots w/ ranch, apple slices, cheese and crackers with a little snowflake from edible paper, and snowflake jello. 

Wednesday - Soy nut butter and jelly sandwich Christmas tree with cheese star and ornaments, and pomagranate seeds, carrots w/ ranch, Christmas ornament jello, and apple slices. 

Thursday - Brown rice star and heart molds, with soy sauce in a little flying pig container from Japan (so cute), carrots w/ ranch, snowflake jello, cheese stick bites, and applesauce pouch.

Friday before school got out - I meant for this to be amazing, but it turned out more like, "yeah I'm ready for break" - Orange slices, cheese sandwich sticks, carrots w/ ranch, and raspberry tart with holiday sprinkles :) 

We still have all of next week off too, and I'm loving all the family time!!

Quick Tip - Christmas Skirt

I can never find a Christmas Skirt for our new bigger tree that I just love, and there is no way I'm going to pay $20.00 for a tree skirt! That, my friends, is a box of diapers in this house! So I went to our local thrift store and found this round plaid table cloth for obviously a round table of which we don't own. And just to be clear it really is cloth, not plastic, it's so soft, and I actually trust it more as a tree skirt than a table cloth that my sweet darling children would inevitably spill stuff all over. This table cloth cost me $1.99. I cut a slit half way down the middle, and wrapped it around our tree. Voila! 

Merry Christmas! 

Teacher Gift - Christmas 2013

My daughter's first year of school and what better way to spread holiday cheer and to say thank you for being such great teachers then to give her teacher and the other kindergarten teacher she sees all the time a little pampering Christmas gift. I didn't come up with this idea on my own, but my version of it. 

This is a "For your mistletoes" gift. And we included these plush aloe infused socks, lotion and a beautiful red nail polish. 

For packaging I used white paper sacks, some pretty ribbon, and white paper filler.

And downloaded a free Mistletoes printable, from here... 

http://www.dresdencarrie.com/2012/12/for-your-mistletoes-free-printable.html

I also added some ink edging around the edges, you may notice in the final product.

This is how I fit it all in the bag...

I folded the bag over and punched two holes, strung the ribbon through, finished with a bow, and then slid the tag up onto the ribbon, it's thick enough ribbon the tag won't slide off. 

And there you have it. A cute little Christmas gift you could give to any woman that deserves aloe infused socks! :) 

New Christmas tradition, the Christmas Eve box!

I'm doing a quick post before the kids see these pictures on my iPad and then the jig is up! This is a new tradition I'm starting where we, as a family, will open up this box and then let the Christmas Eve relaxation commence. This isn't a new thing, obviously. I'm not the one who had this brilliant idea, but this is my version. We have hot cocoa mix, marshmallows, candy canes, three Christmas themed books, and new Christmas DVD, and new Christmas socks for the kids. I was going to get them new pajamas like I have seen in other boxes but they already have quite a few, so many that my daughter has already picked out the pair she is wearing on Christmas Eve. So here ya have it... 

Week in Bentos - 12/2 - 12/6

This weeks lunches were a little lack luster due to the fact that this week ended up being insane. But today's lunch (Friday) I finally got my groove back and provided my daughter with something fun! 

Monday - A plain bagel with strawberry yogurt spread, cheese stick, carrots w/ ranch, and applesauce pouch, in our new vintage Alice in Wonderland bento box from Japan.

Tuesday - Chicken and cheese wrap roll ups on a whole wheat tortilla, carrots w/ ranch, veggie straws, Mott's fruit and veggies fruit snacks. 

Wednesday - Soy nut butter, banana and chocolate chip roll up on whole wheat tortilla, cheese stick, jello, and carrots w/ ranch. The cute little item on the left is a spoon in it's own cover, also from Japan! 

Thursday - Kya loved dinner on Wednesday night so much she wanted it for lunch the next day. Alfredo Tri color pasta, Red Lobster cheese biscuit, apple slices, carrots w/ ranch, and jello.

Friday - Soy nut butter and jelly snowman sandwich, turkey pepperoni and Mozz cheese kabobs, jello with holiday sprinkles, veggie straws, and an applesauce pouch. 

Have a great week! See you next Friday!