When I was a kid my mom made me the most incredible lunchbox love notes. She used to draw pictures on my lunch bags. I wish that I had photos of what those lunch bags looked like. The one that I remember the most was a scene that she drew from Charlottes Web complete with Wilbur with his long, baby pig eyelashes.
Each day at lunch my classmates would gather around to see what my mom had drawn on my lunch bag. It was a token of her love that made me feel special and know that she was thinking of me. The memory of those hand drawn lunch bags has stuck with me for my entire life.
Bean started kindergarten last week, right at the exact same time that I went back to work, full-time, 5 days a week. It makes me sad that I’m not the one to drop her off at school each morning and pick her up each afternoon. During her first week of school she asked me if I would be picking her up that afternoon. When I told her no she looked at me sadly and said “But all of the other kid’s mommies pick them up.”
I am nowhere near the artist that my mother is, but I knew that I wanted to let Bean know that I am always thinking about her, always loving her, even when I am not there with her. I decided that I would make Bean lunchbox love notes each day. It’s something that only takes 5 minutes but every day after school she tells me how much they meant to her.
Here are the cards that I made Bean for her first week of school. Excuse how crumpled they are, this is them after they came home from school with yogurt splashed on them. The one on the bottom left was the card I made the first day of school. I drew pictures instead of words because I wanted her to be able to try to read it on her own.
This week I was rushed a few days and ended up cutting pictures out of magazines to make super quick lunchbox love notes. The monkey and the kitty notes have been her favorite so I’m going to start keeping my eyes peeled for cute magazine images that I can clip.
Yesterday I went with a butterfly theme.
My girl loves her lunchbox love notes, and I love knowing that she gets a little dose of mommy love each day at lunch. At first I was hesitant to try to draw things on her cards, because an artist I am not, but then I realized that Bean loves my drawings whether they are good or awful… you know what they say… it’s the thought that counts.
Want to make lunchbox notes for your little one but don’t have the time or feel up for the challenge artistically? Pick up some of these Mini Lunch Notes made by Chronicle Books.
Tell me… Do you make lunchbox love notes for your kids? Do you draw pictures on them, write messages or a combination of the two? Did your parents leave notes in your lunch box when you were a child?