(Small intrusion into my post,
please go here and vote for my friend Brittany Beaulac, thanks!)
Pikko would be so proud of me today, I just wanted to say that first thing! Now onto the details.
Our morning started out with Princess deciding she didn't want to ride the bus, she wanted to spend that hour watching cartoons and hanging out on the couch. (We just recently acquired some hand me down white leather couches from my step mom, ultimate in comfort, they rock!) I told her since she got ready for school in record time I would take her for a dough nut and chocolate milk. We then proceeded to leave and we began discussing today's lunch menu at school. Princess' school was offering either Vegetable Lasagna or Ham & Cheese sandwich, she made "ikky" faces at both and we were in a quandry!
I thought... "BENTO!" I have used my make shift bento boxes before, but just as a leftover storage container to make leftovers more appetizing to the kids, however, today I had no leftovers! And being as it's the end of the month and I am short on cash, we had to make due with whatever we could find. Between being limited on supplies and little Miss Picky, it was tight!
We have bologna but no bread. DING, make shapes of bologna and she can eat them with a fork! She was all over that idea, especially since I used Hello Kitty rice molds (kitty, bear, bunny) to cut out shapes. Bologna is large enough to cut out two kitties from one slice, one bear and bunny from one slice. We ended up with two kitties, two bears, and two bunnies. I originally set them across the bento box, but that left no room for much else, so I stacked them. In the end, I placed the bunny cover for the rice mold over the bologna so it the bologna wouldn't move since it was lower in height compared to everything else and the lunch bag would make the container on it's side.
An idea from snack time a couple days ago meant that brightly colored goldfish crackers and gummy bears had a place. I originally used silicone baking cups for those and they ended up in rice molds! I used the Hello Kitty kitty for the gummy bears and the bear for the goldfish crackers, they were so cute!
Trying to determine what would go in next became a game, I was at the counter and Princess at the refrigerator and I offered up maybe grapes? She said sure and came out with a huge box of baby purple/red grapes, I picked off around 10 and dropped them into a hot pink silicone baking cup. She then decided the purple grapes needed to be in the purple cup, another change. We still had some room, huge green grapes were tossed into the hot pink silicone baking cup and then box was then rearranged.
Oh look, some more room! "Mom, can I have Miracle Whip too?" OH GREAT IDEA! I had just purchased some pink Hello Kitty sauce cups, filled it, closed it, popped it in, perfect fit. Since we were in the Hello Kitty theme, I removed the fork and spoon that comes equipped into the side of this bento and replaced them with a Hello Kitty fork! I eventually replaced the stock spoon because she could use the opposite end of that for a knife and spreader for her Miracle Whip.
While I was finished adjusting the box, Princess was putting refrigerated items back, and I asked her if she wanted green tea too?! She was all over that idea and I got to use one of those new drink containers I had gotten her from the dollar store, it was hot pink! Then we scrambled all over the house looking for my camera for I knew that Pikko would never forgive me for not memorializing my very first bento.
So without further ado, I present my very first bento!
(forgive the bad image, we were in a hurry, don't forget I made her late for school for this!!!)
