Well, I've had a super busy week and a chocka weekend. I spent Saturday at a Food Smoking course which was fantastic - more on that to follow. The week was rammed too but I had to go to town for some craft supplies so I managed a flying visit to a charity shop.
My purchase wasn't huge, it set me back the princely sum of £1 in total, but I'm really glad to have found these.
They're re-usable cake toppers in all sorts of different characters.
Regular readers will know that I try to make themed lunchboxes for Ruby each day. She loves the surprise of opening her box and seeing what the topic is and it's also encouraging her to try new foods.
I'm not impressed by the blatant gender stereotyping going on with these cake people. There's clearly a 'boy' set with macho pursuits like football, surfing and occupations like firefighter and doctor versus the 'girl' set where they adopt the feminine pursuits of ballerina; nurse and princess. So of course, for 50p a set I bought both - she'd love a cowboy theme just as much as a princess one so there!
It's not difficult to make themed bento lunchboxes, and charity shops are great sources of cheap props like shaped cookie cutters for sandwiches, silicone moulds for serving small portions of fruit and veg and different shaped tubs and containers.
I make up a small batch of plain or fruit fairy cakes on a Sunday evening and then make up a tiny mount of icing in a saucer each day and add a themed topper or sprinkles.
Keep an eye on my Facebook page and you might see these appearing in a lunchbox soon!
What thrifty second-hand finds have you managed lately? I'd love you to grab the badge and link up.
Ooh love them and quite a bargain!! I really must be more adventurous with lunch boxes..tend to get a bit lazy as we get further into term but if I jazzed them up it'd probably help me get excited about making them! x
ReplyDeleteIt's true, it does keep me more interested so it's not entirely selfless!
DeleteGreat little purchase and love the themed lunchboxes!
ReplyDeleteI can see so many fun lunches coming from these charaters!
DeleteCute cute cute! My Roo has school dinners as she steadfastly refuses to eat packed lunches, but if she did, I'd definitely try and theme them. She tells me she prefers school dinners to my cooking. Bit harsh, I think.
ReplyDeleteThat is VERY harsh Steph, your food always looks amazing x
DeleteOh man they are too cute: you are so good with your lunchboxes. I confess I am grateful that mine have school meals!
ReplyDeleteYou see mine refuses to have school lunch.
DeleteHow sweet are those??? And it just goes to show that when you go into a charity shop you really have absolutely no idea at all as to what you might come out with!
ReplyDeleteExactly! I love a nice surprise like this, and for £1 you can't go wrong really can you?
DeleteI would die to eat a homemade lunch like that!
ReplyDeleteYou make the best star lunches ever.
ReplyDeleteJoy
Ahh thanks you, that's sweet. x
DeleteOh my gosh, that is the cutest lunch ever! Love those little toppers, and good call getting both sets--I've been hearing so much about gendered toys lately, and the whole concept annoys me to no end. The rocker girl with colored hair is awesome though!
ReplyDeleteI like the rock chic too! Might have to make guitar shaped sandwiches *checks cookie cutter drawer*
DeleteYour lunchbox looks wonderful. I love making food look cute too :) Great find with the toppers! x
ReplyDeleteThank you x
DeleteGreat find! It never ceases to amaze me how many things in charity shops are still in their original packaging!
ReplyDeleteI know, I think I love finding 'new' stuff as much as vintage x
DeleteWow I love the idea of a themed lunchbox, that is so sweet. Will you be my Mummy too? *Pleading face*
ReplyDeleteHaha! What do you fancy for tomorrow?
DeleteOh cute are they? I love them and the idea of putting a theme on packed lunch is fab. Makes it so much more fun x
ReplyDeleteIt makes it more interesting for me too than same old sandwiches everyday! x
DeleteSUCH a fun lunch! Any child will love to have this!!! What is the thing in the silicon mould?! So exciting- wish my mum had done this for me when I was little!x
ReplyDeleteAhh thanks Kezzie. That's jelly with sprinkles on!
DeleteVery cute, and good on you for getting the "boy" set too. It's good to mix it up a bit. I quite like that my little one has to wear her tutu and her construction tool belt while rocking out to beastie boys and "ballet music" fingers crossed she doesn't stray too far over to the "princess" side
ReplyDeletenew flower now linking up thanks for hosting have a great week
ReplyDeleteI love the themed lunches! What a great idea. I might have to try it for the grandkids next time they spend the night. Thanks for hosting! Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteI love that you do Bento too, think it is so much fun for all of us! Lunches are soooo boring when you make them everyday! Suddenly realised I had bought something last week!!! Linked up my new, well very old, cutlery! xx
ReplyDeleteGreat lunch idea :-) I cannot wait until the kids go to school and I can start making them cool lunches haha. I need to start getting in to the surfing in charity shops - I love vintage things and I love props for photography. I just never get around to doing it. I will. I will.
ReplyDeleteWe don't do lunchboxes and I still don't understand the need to do the bento thing, if we had packed lunches my thoughts maybe different, but I love the toppers xxx
ReplyDeleteGREAT find! I need to keep an eye out for something similar - may help with the fussy eating phase my 3 year old is currently going through!
ReplyDeleteI always nosey at this link up, so I thought I would join in this time, hope that's ok!
ReplyDeleteI love your lunchbox ideas, very cute!
http://secondhandsusie.blogspot.co.uk/
Ruby's lunchboxes must the be the envy of all the kids in the class - sooo cool! x
ReplyDeletelove the themed bento lunchboxes idea! i'll remember it when i have to find solutions to how to make packed lunches interesting. nice cake toppers too for a quid - i reckon girls like cowboys and surfing too, sometimes even footballers and firemen :)
ReplyDeleteI used to make themed lunches for my daughter when she was little :-)
ReplyDelete~Val