Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Halloween Yubos + Spiral Sandwich Sushi Tutorial!

Today's the day someone wins a deluxe personalized yubo! But first... 

Halloween Yubo Faceplates

That's right, yubo has some fantastic & colourful Hallowe'en faceplate designs! Sprout got Witchy Feet, and Pickle got Trick or Treat...

Personalized Halloween yubo faceplates

Sprout & Pickle love them,  thank you, yubo :)

And here are our first Hallowe'en lunches!

Pickle wanted a sushi sandwich and a fortune cookie but I wanted to make a Hallowe'en lunch so I compromised - he has a yogurt ghost with sugar sprinkles & candy eyes, peanut butter sandwich sushi with Hallowe'en party picks, the fortune cookie, and for snack, an upside-down yogurt cup with Boo! written on the bottom - and I did pack spoons, they're just not shown.

Pickle's First Hallowe'en yubo

Sprout has grapes in a pumpkin silicone cup, a fortune cookie, a little container of raisins, sandwich spirals on a pumpkin party pick, an Enjoy Life Caramel Apple Bar, & a Jack O'Lantern satsuma orange (face drawn with food colouring marker) To drink she has Horizon chocolate milk, which fits perfectly in the Yubo - and after snapping the pic I put her orange Fall print cloth napkin between her lunch and the lid to keep it all in place.

Sprout's First Hallowe'en yubo

I love Hallowe'en & Hallowe'eny lunches!  I was super scattered this morning though - it was my first day "back to work" after letting Sailor Boy take care of things while I was ill ... He did great, but the cupboards were pretty bare, things were not where I expected them to be, and I was a little slow, so Bella & Beanstalk didn't get Hallowe'eny lunches today. Ah well, we do have the whole month of October ahead of us  :)

By popular demand...



And here's another look at last week's lunch that they went into :

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Okay, you've waited long enough... assuming you didn't skip the post and jump down here... The winner is.... 

#223 Emily C ! 

But don't despair if that's not you! Remember I said yubo had another treat for me to give away for Hallowe'en? That was no trick... 

To thank you for your entry, the folks at yubo would like to offer you a 25% off coupon towards anything on their site.  They have some very cute Halloween faceplates that can be personalized!  So hurry and check out their adorable lunchboxes at www.getyubo.com.  Offer ends October 10, 2012. Enter coupon code: benton25 when you order to receive your 25% off.  
Personalized items require 7-10 days, so don't wait!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Back To School: Yubo Review & Giveaway!

Boy do I have something fun to post about today! A yubo review & giveaway! I'm so pleased that one of my readers will get to enjoy this unique lunchbox system for free! 

We've been using our yubo for a few weeks now.  It's one of my favourites to pack, and I think it's Pickle's all-time favourite to take lunch in. He wants to take it every day, but sometimes he has to share with his little kindergartner sister, Sprout :)  Here's a fun yubo lunch I packed for her:


Sprout has PB & chocolate PB sandwich spirals (a fun way to fit a sandwich in a small space  click here for my sandwich spirals tutorial), plus carrot blossoms, pluots, kiwi, yogurt, & raspberry applesauce. 

Yes, 2 runny things! No, I'm not at all concerned about them spilling and making a mess in the lunchbox - the inner containers are definitely tried and true leakproof :) In fact, when Pickle took this Snoopy lunch (below) he dropped it while running across the schoolyard - on the pavement - and everything in his lunch, including the yogurt, remained intact! 

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Now, back to telling you about the yubo!

The yubo lunchbox is made up of the lunchbox frame, handle, outer walls (or lid and bottom if you prefer), and 2 faceplates. The handle can be attached anywhere along the outer frame. The faceplates can be changed, and yubo has many to choose from, including holiday designs - you can even get them personalized with names and/or photographs! 


The yubo Deluxe comes with it's own custom ice pack, a large square & 2 small round containers. They're just the right size for a yogurt :) Some yogurt cups are a perfect fit too (see below). You can also purchase additional yubo containers & accessories, like the medium-sized ones in Sprout's lunch (top) and the drink holder attached to the frame of Pickle's yubo (above).


The inner containers are easy for my kidlets to open & close, and they don't leak! And even if they don't put the lids back on when they pack up from lunch, and yogurt ends up all over the inside of the lunchbox, it's all right - it comes apart easily for cleaning - but not too easily - it can survive typical kid roughness. I can tell Pickle's takes some abuse judging by how dirty it is when he gets home, but that's okay - the whole thing goes in the dishwasher! 

Our yubo lunchbox is in demand! 

You might remember in my Back to School post, I mentioned that there was more to the story of our hectic morning? Well, it might have appeared as if we had 2 yubos, when in fact,  we only have 1... There was a bit of a battle over that yubo :) I had packed an adorable apple bento in it, for Sprout:


Now, the yubo is Pickle's favourite - but I hadn't meant for it to belong to any one person, I thought the sproutlets could share it, so when it came in the mail and Pickle asked "Is that a new lunchbox for me?",  I said "Yep, it's for everybody!"...  I thought he understood ...

I was mistaken though ... when Pickle saw Sprout's apple-themed First day of school lunch packed in his new favourite lunchbox, he was quite upset. Remember, he's autistic, and doesn't switch gears as quickly as some kids, and he was stuck on taking that yubo for his first day. So, since Sprout only had a half day for her first day of Kindergarten and didn't really need to take a lunchbox, I took her lunch out and repacked it for him.


Luckily, I'd bought some extra inner containers, so it was a quick fix :) And clearly I was going to need to buy another yubo!

But guess what? The folks at yubo are so awesome, they offered to squelch the squabbling for me by sending me a 2nd yubo with one of their new Hallowe'en faceplate design and I'll have a coupon code to offer those who entered the giveaway a special discount on those! Eek! So you'll be seeing Hallowe'en yubo lunches very soon, and then get another chance to win one of your own. And if you just can't wait, go and check them out on the yubo website, or Follow them on Facebook to get all the updates.
Things I Love
  • Containers don't leak.
  • Lunchbox and containers are easy for kids to open & close.
  • So easy to clean - love that the whole thing is washable, and in the dishwasher too! 
  • Versatility - I love being able to arrange the inner containers different ways, with different sizes, yet all fitting together.
  • Changeable faceplates & overall look make it fun & unique.
  • Ice pack perfectly sized for container.
  • Availability of additional inner containers means I can pack portions ahead of time for faster mornings.
Things I Don't Love, but can live with :) [updated 1 year later]
  • Drink holder attaches with velcro, which may wear out... or not :)
    [1 year & many washings later, still holding strong]
  • Multiple small containers & lids means more things to open & close & try not to lose. [we've not lost any yet!]
  • Slightly bulky, especially when drink holder added. Kids don't seem to mind though! [carried vertically it feels much less bulky] It does fit in their backpacks though.
Overall, I love the design of the yubo! It's eco-friendly, practical, and fun.

Yubo is Sproutlet Approved!

And now, the Giveaway! The folks at yubo have generously offered to give one lucky reader a personalized Deluxe Yubo lunchbox of their choice! 
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: I was provided with a Deluxe Yubo lunchbox to review. No other compensation was given.  All opinions, descriptions,  and images are my own, with the exception of the Yubo logo.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Sandwich Spiral Trials

With the exception of Pickle and his penchant for PB, my kids don't really like sandwiches. Or, they think they don't. They've been saying they don't like them for so long, I'm not sure they even know if that's still true or not. Baby Bird will eat a PB sandwich with the crusts cut off, unless she hears one of her siblings say "ew, I don't like peanut butter sandwiches"... and then she will refuse it :(

Things is, they like bread, and they like fruit, and they like peanut butter... just not together (or so they think). I thought maybe if the sandwiches didn't look like sandwiches, they might try them, and realize they do like them. So today I made grape jelly sandwiches that don't look like sandwiches. I flattened the bread, spread a thin layer of jelly, rolled it into a log, sliced it into little cookie shapes, and even presented them in a cute container:

Cute, right? Like little cinnamon rolls!

Feeling quite pleased with my cleverness, I offered them to Bella, Sprout & Baby Bird, and while I expected my finicky girls to be a little apprehensive about something new, I didn't expect outright rejection! You would think I was asking them to eat snails. I coaxed and cajoled, but eventually resorted to bribery, promising a treat of mini marshmallows if they ate just one. With an air of distaste, Bella gingerly placed one in her mouth, chewed it minimally, then gulped it down like it was a pill. Her little sisters watched, and when they saw she didn't fall over dead, followed suit. Having fulfilled their promise, they smiled and shouted: "Marshmallows!"

This crowd is going to be tougher than I thought. Although, Sprout did say, after eating her marshmallows, that she might like the sandwich spirals with peanut butter instead of jelly. Willingness to try them again! It's a start :)
Disclosure: My posts contain affiliate links to products & services I've used & approve of  :)  If you make a purchase after clicking one of those links, I earn a small commission. Thank you!

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