Beauty and the Beast Theatre Camp Lunch

 

Friday, August 2, 2013 - On the last day of Z's theatre camp, the campers did a "show" for the parents, along with the actors doing the regular performances. I made her a special Beauty and the Beast lunch to celebrate, in between her last practice camp and the performance.

Lunch for my Star!

Organic strawberry, cherries, and green beans; chocolate honey mint, dairy-free cheeses, GF PBJ w/fruit leather

 

Most of my fancy tools are inaccessible right at the moment, due to being buried under a year's worth of stuff, since I haven't organized in a while. *cough* So I was stumped how I was going to make a worthy Beauty and the Beast lunch. So I winged it. I chose our Planetbox because all the different compartments make it easy to separate the different elements of a themed lunch like this.

For the Beast, I cut a sun-shape from a fun cutter set out of dairy-free "cheddar," and used a face cutter on some "mozzarella."
I used the same cutter set to make Belle's bangs out of some fruit leather, and had to cut them down a bit so they didn't look so freakishly big on her. I think her ponytail was made using a cutter from this set. Not sure though. But chances are good, since my tackle box of really mini cutters was accessible. Can't remember what cutter I used to make her head. Maybe this one? Then I used a toothpick to poke eyes into the "cheese," and to paint on some jam for her lips.

I was able to find my large circle biscuit cutter to make the clock face (I cut the bread first and saved the scraps in a bag in the fridge!) I used the scraps from the Beast's eyes to be the whites for Cogsworth's, and used a mini circle cutter to make little fruit leather pupils. More fruit leather with my mini number cutters, and I hand-cut the "hands" on the clock.

For Lumiere, I hand-cut a sandwich finger (Baby E got the rest of that one) and cut "cheese" features with the mini face cutter. I used a mini tear-shaped cutter on some "cheddar" for the flame, and cut another out of bread scraps to put it in the "center" of the candle, like it would be on a real one! I used peanut-butter to glue everything down, and a bit of uncooked (gluten-free) spaghetti noodle to hold the flame in place.

A bento friend found the teapot and teacup cupcake picks at a party supply store. They don't look much like Mrs. Potts and Chip, but Z got the idea. So, good enough!

For the rose in the Beast's room, I used a stem pick in a strawberry. I surrounded it with cherries to not muddy the water with more strawberries!

Stupidly Non-Matching Lunch for the Toddler

GF PBJ, Naturebox Ranch Peas; organic champagne grapes,
carrots, sugar snap peas, grapes (halved,) raspberries and blueberries

So, yeah. Note to self: When you know full well that they'll be eating together, don't give Big Sister a tasty chocolate treat without giving one to the toddler. Doh! Luckily she was strapped in, since it was kind of chilly out so we ate in the car (rather than drive home to eat, in the hour break between camp and when Z needed to be back for final dress rehearsal.) I had a full mutiny on my hands, with screaming and grabbing, and attempting to throw her lunch. Until Big Sis shared some of her gooey mint-filled chocolate. And not just a stingy little pinch. She gave her sister half! Half! You see? This is what my dye-free gluten-free little girl is like! Worth the bento-limitations of having to work with crappy bread!

After the show, the principal actors came out into the courtyard and lobby for a meet and greet. Z refused to have her photo takes with any of them, and Baby E wasn't exactly thrilled either. Oh well. The cast was super nice. And most of them were also camp counselors, so the kids knew them already, and got to enjoy seeing them "in character." (The actors playing the Beast were not in costume, since that character wasn't needed for the four songs the kids were doing. Plus they probably didn't want to scare any of the little siblings in the audience. No worries here. My little terror spent the whole time trying to escape and run up onto the stage to be with her big sister. She would have braved the Beast!

Tools of the Trade