4th of July Linky Party!

It's almost America's birthday, and all around me folks are getting ready to celebrate, decking everything in red, white & blue - and that includes the food! Last year the Bento Bloggers & Friends did a patriotic blog hop, but this year we decided to have a Linky Party & invite everyone to join the fun!

You're Invited!

What: A 4th of July Bento Lunch (& more) Linky Party!

Who: Anyone who's made any edible Americana and taken a photo of it :)

Where: Right here on the Bent On Better Lunches blog

When: Now through July 13th 2013 (4th of July is the theme, not the date)

Directions: You don't need a blog to join this party! All you need is a photo with a direct URL. You can even link a Facebook photo if the privacy setting is set to public - click the timestamp & copy that URL. Click the “Add your link ” button below the thumbnails & follow the prompts.

RSVP: If you plan to attend later, you're welcome to leave a comment saying so, and if you don't, you can leave a comment anyways, I love comments :)

Happy Canada Day!

We're trying to get our deck done while the sun shines, so the sproutlets' lunches have been mostly fruit & cheese lately, nothing cute, but they haven't minded. I did take a few minutes to pack a healthy snack for my hard-working Sailor Boy, in our PlanetBox Shuttle, for whenever he's ready to take a break:

He has mini raisin banana muffins, yogurt with red sprinkles, and watermelon. The muffins are truly Canadian, they were baked in Canada, by my mom ♥

Here are a couple of last year's holiday lunches, click the pic to see the post :)

  

Patriotic Prechool Bento + Shake Test!

I didn't plan on making a patriotic bento today, but it evolved into one when I noticed all the foods I'd packed were red, white & blue... so I stuck a paper American flag in one of the cheese pieces and voilà! A 4th of July-worthy preschool bento lunch or sampler snack tray :)

Birdie & Sprout shared this colourful sampler for an afternoon snack:

• red, white & blue Goldfish crackers
• mozzarella string cheese
• strawberries
• blueberries
• yogurt for dipping
• dried strawberries
• yogurt-covered raisins

Packed in their Zak! Designs Dr. Sears Nibble Tray

Shake it up! 

I packed yogurt in the detachable EZ Freeze dip section of the Nibble Tray specifically so I could do a shake test with it. A reader had recently asked: "Does the attached tray travel well with the body or come unattached easily? [Her child] is a lunchbox swinger and banger, so everything has to be very sturdy!" I didn't know... so I decided to put it to the test :)

 

The "leaf" dip section attaches securely to the "pineapple" main section with tabs on the leaf that clip into slots on the pineapple. The lid of the main section actually overlaps the clips so when it is filled and sealed, the dip section cannot come unattached, even when overturned, as shown in the pic above. The lids seal well too. To see if the Nibble Tray could survive being jostled about in a schoolbag,  I filled it, sealed it, then shook it up, on video :

I just love our Nibble Tray, and so do my little ones! 

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post or solicited review. Descriptions, video & opinions are my own,  given purely in response to a reader question :) This post does contain affiliate links, because, if you're going to buy one based on what you've seen here, why not toss a few coins my way!

Canada Day Bentos, Eh!

Happy Birthday Canada! Though my family won't be attending any Canada Day festivities today, we'll still be celebrating, just as we've done every other year we haven't been able to be in Canada on the 1st. Here are my sproutlets celebrating at home, back when there were only 4 :

This year we've got some Canada flag temporary tattoos, little flags to wave, Bob & Doug McKenzie's The Great White North  to listen to, and Canada Day bentos for lunch. Here's Sprout's:

She has red & white goldfish crackers (I just ate all the blues from a handful of Liberty Goldfish), a heart-shaped egg, strawberries, ham on a maple leaf pick, mozzarella cheese embellished with food colouring marker, & baby carrots. Here is Sprout her first Canada Day:

You can't tell in the pic, but Sprout's egg heart is hollow. She doesn't like the yolk these days, so I cut it in half, removed it (washed every trace out!) and put it back together :)

Pickle had a Canada flag peanut butter sandwich Friday, I'll make that for him again, if he wants. Here's Pickle playing with a Canada flag on July 1st 2008:

Birdie has a Canada love bento too, in our LunchBots Quad:

Lots of red, white & hearts. Strawberry hearts are easy to make by cutting a notch when removing the stem. Egg hearts are a cinch with an egg mold, or, there's a DIY tutorial here if you like a challenge. Baby carrot hearts on a skewer are made by cutting diagonally then flipping one over (step by step here). Canada is written on the cheese with food coloring markers.

Bella and Beanstalk want grilled hot dogs for lunch. Hopefully the rain that was forecast stays away and Sailor Boy will make them some. Grilled is the only way they like hot dogs.

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If we were spending the holiday in Canada, we would be heading out to watch the parade this morning. We make quite a production of it when we go :)

Happy Canada Day!

 ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥ 

More Canada Day bentos:

 

It's a Patriotic Bento Blog Hop!

Today's post is part of a patriotic blog hop! 
Beanstalk, Bella, Birdie & Sprout all have red, white & blue lunches in celebration of Independence Day, but since I've already done an American flag sandwich for my Pickle this year, and I'm Canadian, I decided to make him a Canada flag sandwich in honour of Canada's Birthday (July 1st)

His flag is a peanut butter sandwich, and on the side he has red & white marshmallow stars, and the bits of the sandwich cut out for the flag, skewered on maple leaf picks, and yogurt topped with red frozen yogurt stars. 

Happy (early) Canada Day Pickle!

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My Bella selected everything that went into her stars & stripes bento.

She has an EasyLunchbox packed with a star-shaped peanut butter sandwich, tomatoes, NatureBox Zingy Currants, Fig Newtons, and Gala apple slices. I added the marshmallow stars as a treat.

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Beanstalk has his 4th of July food in a stainless steel LunchBots Quad.

He has a flag made of blueberries topped with cheese stars & a striped Gala apple, red, white & blue Goldfish, ham & the rest of the mozzarella string cheese used for the stars.

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Birdie and Sprout got Lock & Lock bentos.

Birdie has blueberries and mozzarella on heart picks, strawberries topped with a frozen yogurt star, a star-shaped hard-cooked egg, and red, white & blue Goldfish, topped with USA cookies.

Sprout has her yogurt stars atop some blueberries, cheese stars atop strawberries, and the bottom half the same as Birdie :)

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For afternoon snack yesterday, Beanstalk enjoyed red, white & blue organic naturally colored corn chips, served in a miniature Weber Grill! Hahahaha!

Now hop on over and to What's for Lunch at Our House and see what Shannon has made!

Some containers used for these lunches: