Happy Happy Lunch Box Hop: Lunch Note Love

Hey everybody, it's Friday and I'm taking my turn for the Happy Happy Lunch Box Hop!  Have you seen the hop posts? They've been full of such helpful, cute and clever ideas about lunch!! Today I have a non-food idea, because I pack lame lunches, but I do have some tricks up my sleeve when it comes to lunch notes.

I know what you're thinking, 'putting and note in my kids lunch is NOT a new idea.'  You're right, it really isn't, but here I've got some ideas on how to do notes in lunches a little differently.

It all began when Lilac statrted kindergarten (obviously). I wanted to put notes in her lunch so at the beginning of the year I made like 15 or 20 different simple little silly notes that I would rotate through her lunch.  

It was a lot easier to make fun, cute notes when I did so ahead of time-- rather than in the morning rush out the door! Lilac  didn't mind the repeats at all, in fact she liked to to see which one would end up in her lunch each day.  

I did silly stuff, mushy love stuff (that's okay in kindergarten), and even threw sight words in there sometimes. One of her favorite things was something I thought up during first grade, the lunch note guessing game. Monday thru Thursday would be the clues and Friday would be the answer, for example...
Monday- It is fast.
Tuesday- It has feathers.
Wednesday- It is big.
Thursday- It buries its head in the sand.
Friday- A picture of an ostrich

This year I'm upping my game a bit because I saw these handy little  lunch note cards over the summer (they were cheaper than the ones on Amazon) and I decided to make some of my own...

If you're wondering where I found all the fun facts, turns out there are lots of useless facts on pinterest (and let's face it, a lot of other useless stuff.)  

I also got some favorite character printables (you could use stickers) and wrote silly catch phrases on those notes.  (The fine print: all the characters shown in this post are licensed, trademarked and copyrighted to their respective creators! Thanks for making fun characters my kids like!!)

One of the things I'm most excited about is that I did a little outsourcing this year!! When we were on a trip with grandparents and great grandparents I had them write some notes for the girls' lunches.  I think they came out soooo cute! (My grandma put a cookie on the pigeon card without even knowing about the book!!)

I also found lots of great pre-made printable lunch note ideas on pinterest. I've got the sites for both the printables above pinned on this board. (That's where I pinned the fun facts too.)

And finally, I came up with a quick clever way to make reusable notes!! I just laminated a few little squares of card stock and then wrote on them with a wet erase marker!! (Wet erase so it won't rub off in the lunch box-- these are like the old school markers your teachers used on the overhead projected.) You could get the same effect using contact paper or even clear packing tape over the cards.  

I have no idea if any of that is helpful to anyone. I hope it is, just for fresh ideas at least!  If you'd like some actual good lunch advice please check out Michelle, Melissa, and Danzel's posts from the hop!!  

Happy reading and good luck making lunch!!