Eye Spy Bento

This bento was originally going to be something completely different - a spider theme, in fact. But as I was digging through my paper Halloween muffin liners, I found the new eyeball ones from Wilton I just bought, and quickly turned it all around into an eyeball theme!

Eye Spy

Her lunch: Ham and cheese sandwich balls w/olives, string cheese nibblets,
strawberry-mango fruit snacks, green beans w/carrots and olives,
apples w/rasberries

Eyeball sandwiches: I had originally planned to make sandwich balls for this week's Bento of the Week theme into spiders (using some licorice string.) But apparently I got my dates messed up, and that theme is really for next week. Ah well. And the silicone spider cup was going to hold some leftover caramel corn from our visit to Seattle Center earlier in the week. But when I switched over to an eyeball theme, I had the brilliant notion to turn the spider cups sideways, making the legs into eyelashes! Brilliant! And I had some super-huge-jumbo olives, which I sliced up to make the irises or pupils or whatever.


Eyeball Snacks: The cheese nibblets were the reason I was looking for a mini paper liner in the first place, since with the balls-that-would-become-spiders and the silicone cup already in there, there wasn't a lot of room left. I found these mini Wilton liners at Safeway, and don't really see them online anywhere. They are super cute with tiny eyeballs up the sides, and one big eyeball at the bottoms.
I had toyed with the idea of drawing eyes on some of the cheese, but the Wilton markers I have totally suck for drawing on cheese. I had also thought about using some of my sugar eyes, but they tend to melt into cheese over time, which was kind of creepy. And I forgot to actually get them out and do them on the cheese, fruit snacks and fruit after I had decided to go for it anyway. Ah well.
The fruit snacks were left over from our visit to the Starbucks at the Seattle Center (on our way out. Venti white mocha frappucino for me! Yum!) She decided she wanted to try them, and they were pretty cheap, so I got a packet.

Carrot Eyesight: I chopped up the green beans to be eyelashes, and in hindsight, should have stood them upright. Ah well. Several large carrot coins, stacked into two piles, with olive slice irises.

EyeFruity: The pick came from the a set with larger eyeball paper liners. The organic raspberries were the last good ones from our most recent CSA share, and I had to toss the rest. They did not hold up well, and wouldn't stay skewered. The organic apple slices came from a pre-sliced package from Costco. They last a long time, stay nice and crisp and white, and taste very sweet! And I don't have to cut them and slosh them in juice, which makes mine kind of slimy. I know it's a waste, with all the packaging and whatnot, but she loves these ones, and I love these ones, and the Costco ones come with more in each baggie (enough for four lunches) rather than in individual serving sizes.

My lunch: Trader Joe's Halloween JoeJoes (Oreos,) hummus,
peanut-butter-honey sandwich, purple cauliflower w/broccoli,
apples w/blueberries

After pretending to be scared of the eyeballs, she actually enjoyed them. "Today isn't an eyeball theme!" she sassed, since usually I try and theme her lunches around something we're doing that day or for the lesson or activity planned at school. I love how quickly she's caught on to how I choose themes normally, as well as knowing what's coming up at school!

She ate both sandwich balls, all the carrots and olive slices, the apples and some raspberries, and most of the cheese. She 'traded' me her fruit snacks for one of my cookies (I had packed three - one for her, two for me!) She then rearranged her leftovers into the silicone spider cups and told stories about why they were there. I was driving, and wasn't really paying attention (to her,) so I missed her food play.

I couldn't decide between naming this bento "Eye Spy" or "The Eyes Have It," so I let Z decide!