Monday, August 26, 2013

My First Blogiversary and Giveaway!

It's our 1st blogiversary! Hard to believe it's been a year already, and we're still going. What started as a way to, in effect, bribe my picky eaters to eat something for lunch, has evolved into a special hobby for us. We love trying to think up new ideas both for kinds of food, and what we can turn it into. Not every lunch is spectacular work of art or anything, but its a little hug in the middle of the school lunch room.

I made my very first bento for my oldest son's 1st day of kindergarten. I had no idea what I was doing, but I had a millennium falcon sandwich cutter, and well let's just say I've come a long way since then.


 I had no idea that the bento community was so huge. All I knew is my friend Keitha over at Keitha's Chaos made a lunch based on her son's books every day. She introduced me to this creative collection of bento bloggers over at Bento Bloggers and Friends, and the addiction to flair began.

At first I was very wary at investing too much in a hobby that may fizzle out with my fickle kids...but it didn't. If this were Chotchkie's I'd say last year I was Joanna working with the bare minimum, and this year I'm turning into a Brian.


So for my very first give-away ever, I decided to give away flair...and I couldn't stop at 37 pieces. Nope I looked at the calendar and kept on going month after month with a selection of pieces for a decent starter kit. I'm a big fan of Bento USA All Things For Sale bento supply, she has the cutest selection and it ships fast. So I went back to school shopping over there and decided to share the wealth with one of my lucky readers.


37 pieces of flair?

In this lunch :
  • Mix veggie salad with tomatoes
  • Chotchkies shirt - Jalapeno jack cheese
  • Trader Joe's Cowboy Caviar
  • Trader Joe's Black bean and Quinoa tortilla chips
 How about 53 pieces of flair? 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

103 comments:

  1. Happy Blogiversary!!! My favorite lunch making item is cookie cutters but sometimes I just use a knife and freestyle cut designs for the lunchbox.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love cookie cutters. Your freestyle skills are pretty amazing.

      Delete
  2. Definitely cookie cutters or sandwich presses. Happy Blogiversary!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Blogiversary! Great Giveaway, and Great 1st year of Bento Blogging!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I love the support and creative inspiration from BBF

      Delete
  4. Happy Blogiversary!! LOVE the lunch ideas!! I LOVE cookie cutters because it's so easy to make cute lunches!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Cookie cutters make lunch so fast and easy.

      Delete
  5. Happy Blogiversary! It's hard to pick a favorite item, but I'll go with food picks ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I can't choose either, it's all so addicting. :)

      Delete
  6. Happy 1st year to you! Love Bento Box, but so much cuteness and ideas everywhere. I learn from you all. Many more blog years to come!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I am constantly learning from all these wonderful bloggers, so inspiring.

      Delete
  7. I'm so in love with that lunch!!! I love my easy lunch boxes! And of course my tower of picks and containers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks :) One of my all time favorite movies. I think we're upgrading to ELB's soon too.

      Delete
  8. I'm so in love with that lunch!!! I love my easy lunch boxes! And of course my tower of picks and containers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Picks and containers turn the every day into something fun.

      Delete
  9. I love food picks

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Blogiversary!Picking out flair the best part of making bento lunch in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  11. i love the separate compartments of bento boxes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely, the yummier the food the happier I am to have portion control.

      Delete
  12. Happy First year! Our favorite bento item so far is our Easy Lunch Boxes! We also scored some cool picks at Michaels for $1 that are soccer, baseball and football.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Oh nice I hadn't even checked Michael's, I have gotten some at a local cake shop.

      Delete
  13. Happy Blogiversary! My favorite lunch items definitely will be bento box and picks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! For sure the boxes and picks keep things fun and interesting.

      Delete
  14. My favorite is cookie cutters!

    ReplyDelete
  15. My favorite lunch items are cookie cutters and sandwich presses, followed very closely by all the bento bloggers who helped me find a way to get my daughter to actually eat her lunch at school :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am right there with you. So tired of the food coming back untouched, this craft has really helped all of us. So glad its doing the same for you and your daughter. :)

      Delete
  16. I love the cookie cutters and the bento boxes!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love the cookie cutters and the bento boxes!

    ReplyDelete
  18. we're new at the idea of bento lunches as my daughter is just starting kindergarten, so far our favorite tool is cookie cutters and lunch punches.....since we're just starting out this would be so awesome to win! (we don't have any picks yet actually)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So glad you two have found this fun way to spruce up lunch.

      Delete
  19. Happy first year!I wish you much success!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I haven't played with many different tools. I guess my favorite tool so far has been a kitchen knife and food coloring! :D I'd love the chance to up my lunches with some cute things!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I love my little heart cookie cutter for cheese :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. I like to use cookie cutters....heart, butterfly, etc. shapes!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I use cookie cutters! I have a huge collection and don't even use them for cookies anymore!! sharoo1975@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How funny, I rarely use ours for cookies either :)

      Delete
  24. I love getting new things to surprise my daughter with!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely, a package in the mail is like Christmas.

      Delete
  25. cookie cutters therannj@sbcglobal.net

    ReplyDelete
  26. Happy Blogiversary!
    I have a habit of collection bento boxes and anything that looks like it could be used to a bento box but I have over 200 cookie cutters as well lol it's a bit addicting

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Completely addicting I see bento uses everywhere.

      Delete
  27. I love cookie cutters and food picks!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Happy blogiversary. I like sandwich cutters and cute picks. I love your 37 pieces of flair bento!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Definitely my ELBs and LunchBots. Lunch would be a mess w/o 'em! :) Happy Blogiversary, girl!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks :) Boxes are definitely important and fun!

      Delete
  30. I love my egg molds and our Yumboxes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice! I just got egg molds to try out this year.

      Delete
    2. They are fun, but I am still trying to perfect the size of egg to use... Can't get the bear's ears to come out well.

      Delete
    3. Yea my bear is the one that broke today the other 3 were fine. I use large eggs and it was full and imprinted nice, just broke in half as I was trying to get it out. I am not the best hard boiled egg maker though I use that magic egg timer from BB&B I still sometimes have soft eggs. Plus I refrigerated a couple days before using them because I had another theme already planned.

      Delete
  31. I love cookie cutters, and picks.

    ReplyDelete
  32. We are so far loving the lunch punches we have and I am so in love with my planetbox I can't stop talking about it. Would love to add some FLAIR to those lunches though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Planet box is so cool, can't go wrong with adding flair.

      Delete
  33. I love my CuteZcute cutters! They're probably my favorite tool

    ReplyDelete
  34. I love picks. I don't think I can/will ever have enough!

    ReplyDelete
  35. anything with a lot of little compartments

    ReplyDelete
  36. I like my bento boxes the best. Haven't really done much with picks... but if I won 53 of them, who knows!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Boxes are so addicting too just changing the size of the compartments makes you rethink the food prep ideas. Can't go wrong with picks after all food on a stick is always fun right?

      Delete
  37. I like sandwich cutters, they're such an easy way to add something neat to a kids lunch

    ReplyDelete
  38. Happy Blogiversary .. love the lunch (and flair)! It's so hard to pick favorite things, but I suppose cutters are the most fun for me!

    ReplyDelete
  39. I love the muffin cups and how it keeps everything from touching.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Bento picks and cupcake deco

    ReplyDelete
  41. Tracy Meier. I love cookie cutters and all the cute picks!!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Love that you call it flair, I love picks! And sometimes I do feel like I dont have enough flair, LOL thanks for giveaway and congrats!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! That was actually an idea sparked from a discussion thread in our bento group when I was trying to figure out what to giveaway to celebrate. I don't think anyone can have enough flair ;)

      Delete
  43. Happy Blogiversary!
    My favorite is the cutters for all the different shapes. My son loves all the ideas I've gotten from your blog thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay! I love it when others get to play with their food too. I am inspired by a whole bunch of bloggers too. Thanks!

      Delete
  44. I love the shorter thermoses for soups or pudding.

    ReplyDelete
  45. cookies cutter and bento lunchbox

    ReplyDelete
  46. Flair is my favorite of course!! Cookie cutters and sandwich cutters come in a close second though

    ReplyDelete
  47. Cookie cutters are lots of fun and easy. Thanks for the giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  48. I love food picks and cupcake deco picks

    ReplyDelete
  49. I'v been making food art for years. but had no idea there were specialized utensils for it. So I'm most lacking in egg molds and food picks, also really want the silicone cup cake and pie cups. I have around 200 cookie cutters. And when my first daughter went thru school I was know as that mom with the crazy cute and health and yummy cupcakes. No I think cute bento should be requirement at every school, by every student, and yes even for the kids on free lunch program, it's doable I've done the math, and no jobs lost. Most public schools get their lunch from the same providers that supply the prison system food, same food, my child will not eat like a prisoner and yours should not either.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is such a fun way to encourage healthy eating through fun presentation. Thanks for entering!

      Delete
  50. Happy Blogiversary! Curtis had a snowman on the 1st day of school because I let him pick his shape --- not sure what the teachers thought/ probably didn't notice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our teachers definitely notice all the cute lunches, whether they get the themes or not is 50/50 :) But who's to say you can't have a snowman in 100+ Tx heat.

      Delete
  51. I love the cute containers to put the food in, they have so many cut animals, still trying to find a hippo one

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would love a squirrel or monkey silicone, haven't seen them yet.

      Delete
  52. I LOVE using all different kinds of cutters (cookie, sandwich, etc.) for my son's lunches! Since school started he's had so many different themed lunches! Pandas, sharks, dinosaurs, teddy bears. Today's lunch was inspired by the return of Hogwarts' students, so he got pumpkin butter pumpkin shaped sandwiches, two whole peeled clementines with celery stems making them look like pumpkins, a carrot wand, a Gryffindor themed section, a Slytherin themed section, and mini owls, wizard hats and pumpkins scattered throughout! I don't know what I'd do without my cutters!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love your Hogwarts theme! Do you blog? I'd love to see them. Our boys (and myself) love HP!

      Delete
    2. No I don't blog unfortunately.. I've been thinking about it but don't know the first thing about it honestly. haha Here is a link to the lunch though: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201259206416600&set=pb.1065029230.-2207520000.1378416134.&type=3&theater

      I made another Hogwarts lunch today, this time with a "picture" of Hogwarts instead of pumpkin sandwiches and I threw broccoli in there with a bat pick as the Forbidden Forest. :) Here is a link to that one: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201271492523745&set=pb.1065029230.-2207520000.1378416134.&type=3&theater

      They aren't the best, but it is my first year giving this a go! :)

      Delete