First Day of School Lunch!

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Back to School time is always a bit bittersweet for me. I love the fact that my daughter will be in school most of the day, learning and having fun with her friends, while I get to sit in my PJ's and watch Netflix... I mean... While I clean and take care of my important tasks, but I also miss her like crazy and miss the fun times we have when she's here.

This year I've made it my mission in life to make sure she has a fun, delicious and not-so-boring lunch. Last year, towards the end, we were doing a lot of the same old stuff, over and over and over again and I know she probably never wants to see another carrot stick or peanut butter and jelly sandwich as long as she lives.

So, this time, when I went to Walmart to pick up some back to school supplies and lunches for her, I took a really good look around to see what fun, new and creative ideas I could come up with for the dreaded school lunchbox. The first thing I spotted were these awesome Nestle Nesquik drinks! They come in 8 ounce bottles and are the perfect size to fit into a lunch bag! I grabbed the strawberry and the chocolate just to keep things interesting.

After that I grabbed a roasted chicken and some rice pilaf, along with some cucumbers, broccoli, celery, cherries and strawberries. Gotta have your fresh fruit and veggies! Then I headed down the candy aisle in search of something sweet -- a special treat! That totally rhymed... I ended up finding a bag of fun size NERDS that would be perfect to pack up for her and her friends to share at lunchtime! I always loved when I was younger and my mom would pack up a couple of extra treats for me to pass out to my friends! It makes for a great conversation starter to make new friends, or even just to remind your old friends how awesome they are!

We have enough to get us through the first week of school... and some! Hooray! Love the feeling of having everything all ready to go for the first day back to school! Makes life so much easier.

You've gotta have enough to share! Sharing is caring, folks... Oh, and strawberry NERDS are the best nerds in my humble opinion. Okay, the grape are good, too. And all the other flavors... You can't go wrong with 'em.

First day of school lunch = something other than a sandwich! Mission accomplished! Roasted chicken, rice pilaf, Nesquik, fresh cherries and NERDS to share!

• I vow to try my hardest this year to resist the urge to smear a glob of peanut butter on a slice of bread and jelly on another slice and put them together to form a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

•  I vow to send extra treats in my daughter's lunch each week, every Friday, so her and her friends will have something fun to look forward to and live happily ever after.

• Also, I vow to put little notes in my daughter's lunch to remind her how much I love her. You can never say it too many times!

(Click to download and print this love note for your child's lunch! It's important to remind your kids how much they mean to you. no matter how old they are!)

Click here for more delicious ideas for back-to-school!