10 Fun Lunchbox Ideas For Kids + Turkey Pinwheels Recipe

I’m going to show you how to jazz up school lunches.
Fun lunchbox ideas for the kiddos!

10 Fun Lunchbox Ideas For Kids

Let’s face it, when you think of school lunches, nothing awesome comes to mind. That line, the gray food, hairnet lady… I couldn’t wait to hit high school way back in the day. It meant getting to go off campus to eat. I don’t know if that’s still a thing these days, is it? With Ethan starting 3rd grade, we have to come up with fun, unique and sometimes out of the box lunchbox ideas. (see what I did there??) He has sensory issues, and mushy texture doesn’t cut it. Fresh, crisp, those kinds of things do. I’ve put together some great lunbox ideas we use, I think your small fry’s will approve!

Lunchbox Ideas For Kids

First, find a store where you can grab everything you need at 1 place. We love Smart & Final for this. Warehouse prices, no club membership. It’s a 1 stop shop where us as parents aren’t bee-popping from place to place. The big thing for us with Ethan’s texture issues is that the produce is always fresh. He loves raw fruits and veggies. Crisp, cold, crunchy…. They have some really great recipes listed here too, makes it even easier! It’s where I not only found the great produce but all the fixin’s to make these cute Turkey Pinwheels he loves.

Seriously, so easy to make! And, now isn’t that better than boring PB&J? Yeah, it totally is! We grabbed the First Street brand of Turkey and American cheese slices, a head of crisp lettuce and some tortillas. Ethan is a mayo lover so we did the sh-mere of that, layered the rest on top of the tortilla and roll it up. Cut in halfsies. Cut each half in half and there ya go! Easy peasy, right? I know, now you’re thinking… “But, mom, you live in Vegas. It’s super hot there… won’t that get all mushy? Oh no. I’ve got ya covered!

I found a great idea from 1 of those fancy Pinterest mom types. This is 1 I can actually pull off and not be a #PinterestFail too! Fold some paper towels up in a nice square to fit in a zip-loc baggie. Get it slightly more than just damp and seal it up. Toss it in the freezer before you head to bed. In the morning when you’re packing lunches, place the frozen baggie on top of all the goodies. It not only helps keep everything cold, but come lunchtime, you have a ready made wet-nap type thing going on! No more using those expensive school uniform shirts for messy faces! We also pack some yummy trail mix from Smart & Final along side the pinwheels, frozen grapes and First Street Cheddar Guppies he loves. And we all know, great lunchbox ideas aren’t really great until they are packed in the most awesome of all awesome boxes. Light up Spiderman for the BIG WIN!

Right now Smart & Final has a Back to School sweepstakes going over on Facebook! We all could stand to score with that! Check it out  to get the latest on their promotions and deals. So, let’s go over what we’ve learned for fun Back To School Lunchbox Ideas!

• Shop Smart & Final for all your stock-up needs
• Make lunch fun with fresh and healthy foods! Sub in turkey pinwheels for boring PB&J!
• Freeze grapes for a sweet and healthy treat not loaded with sugar
• Freeze paper towels to keep lunch cold and make a handy, homemade wet-nap
• Trail mix – nuts for protein! Stays fresh and crunchy!
• Cool Spiderman lunch boxes that light up beat that line in the cafeteria every.single.time!
• Stick a little ‘Have a Good Day’ note in the box, let them know you’re thinking of them!
• You don’t have to spend a fortune to pack up fun, healthy lunchbox ideas
• Pack them with love, you’ll never go wrong!
• If all else fails and you loose those creative juices to keep things interesting, hop over here to Pinterest. I did a search for ‘lunbox ideas for kids, these mom’s have got ya covered to last all year long!

What’s some of your kiddos favorite lunchbox ideas? Share with the class!

#collectivebias