Creepy Crawly Cracker Sandwich Spiders

 

There's a gluten-free grocery store up near Nana's house, so while she was watching the kids for me while I "worked," I decided to take the opportunity to pop in and check it out. It was a gluten-free nirvana! I found so many familiar brands and products, but also discovered a lot of great new ones! I may have gone a bit crazy...

One of my finds was some gluten-free Chow Mein noodles! Squee! Finally I could easily make bug antennae, sunshine rays, those birds nest things... and spider legs!

[This post contains affiliate links.]

Tuesday, 10/1/13 -                                  Kindergarten Spiders

Glutino crackers w/GF Chow Mein noodles and PBCo Mighty Maple PB;
organic carrots, snap peas, and apples w/Surf Sweets gummy spiders

 

Since this was my first Halloween-y lunch of the year for her, I included a cloth napkin from Red Poppy Crafts on etsy, and a Halloween Lunchbox Love note (use my affiliate code BITING to get 15% off your order!)
To avoid accidental loss of reusable picks and cups and napkins to the garbage, I've trained Z to have a "pack it in, pack it out" mentality, and always bring home everything in her lunch; garbage and all. Which means I can re-use the lunchbox notes, if they aren't all soggy or sticky from being in her lunch all day. So I started sending them in a durable plastic card sleeve to protect them from moisture. These sleeves are firm and help protect the card from being bent, plus they wipe-off easily, in case of PB smears or jelly leaks! (They make thin "cheapie" sleeves too, but they aren't as durable or protective. A good one to start with though, for practicing bringing it all home. Not as frustrating if they forget and throw it out!)

For the eyes, I used dried currants cut in half, glued on with more PB.

Spiders for the Toddler

Organic apples, raspberries, carrots, and sugar snap peas; Surf Sweets gummy spider,
Glutino and TJ Rice crackers w/GF Chow Mein noodles and PBCo Mighty Maple PB

 

Sadly, out of the whole box of Glutino crackers, I only got around 15 unbroken crackers total. The box comes with two foil packets, and the first one I opened only had 8, so they went to Big Sis. I gave E one sandwich with Trader Joe's rice crackers, to give her a spider too, and then a few little broken sandwiches from the larger Glutino cracker bits. Next time hopefully I'll remember to put the crackers in the cupboard right away, rather than letting them get kicked around the kitchen floor for a few days...

I found the silicone spider cups at Target around Halloween a few years ago, but haven't seen them since. I think I heard they can be found at AC Moore, but they don't have stores in my area, so I can't double check.

And yes, I know they all look more like crabs than spiders. *sigh*


Monday, 10/7/13 -                         Creepy Crawlies for Kindergarten

Glutino crackers with GF Chow Mein noodles and PBCo Mighty Maple PB,
GF WOW Lemon Burst cookie w/Surf Sweets gummy spider, organic carrots and apples

 

I had bought some WOW Lemon Burst cookies for half off at Fred Meyer for being short-dated, so I had to use them up quickly. When I was grabbing one to put in their lunches, I thought that the "petals" could easily double as indents between spider web strands! So I took some natural food coloring and a toothpick and painted some webs on. (I used a powdered black from Chocolate Craft Kits, mixed with water. Set available online or at Whole Foods.)
It was a major pain in the butt, and as you can see, I got sloppy and blotchy in spots, just to end my suffering. Don't care.

Happy Toddler Spider Sandwiches

GF bread with GF Chow Mein noodles and PBCo Mighty Maple PB, GF WOW Lemon Burst cookie
w/Surf Sweets gummy spider; organic carrots, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and apples

Since I was out of unbroken crackers, I decided to make E some spiders out of mini bread sandwiches. Plus I had this cute linzer-style face cutter I wanted to use! It doesn't have a way to cut a piece without the face in it, so I just spread the PB thickly over the bottom slice and it covered the face right up, to show the PB through the top slice. Yes, I know. I'm tricksy like that!

Tools of the Trade

    

Food for Thought