Valentine's Day school bento lunches - Sweet Shoppe Mom

I’ve always loved to make school lunches for my son fun while he’s still young enough to enjoy it (I’m sure in the teen years he will NOT want bento lunches anymore). I’m always looking for ways to make them themed for a holiday or something going on at school.

You can simple or elaborate depending on your time and skills. I keep mine pretty simple making use of cookie cutters, sandwich cutters, picks, silicone cupcake liners, and edible markers.

These are real lunches I made my son. Only took a few minutes. They’re not fancy lunches that took hours to create fancy Pinterest food photography photos. Keeping it real. Keeping it simple.

School lunch bentos for Valentine’s Day

one: Heart-shaped sandwiches

lunch #1 – I used a heart sandwich cutter to cut out this sun butter and jelly sandwich. Using sandwich cutters is nice because they are designed to minimize bread waste. I added a cupcake pick for extra fun. The snack is a mixture of dried fruit, strawberries in a silicon heart cupcake liner. I also added few Conversation Hearts as a treat from our 14 Reasons Why I Love You countdown.

lunch #2 – I used a large heart cookie cutter to cut out this sandwich and then a mini cutter for the center heart.

Tip – Add peanut butter to the bottom slice of bread and then add jelly to the bottom slice. Cut the mini heart from the top slice of bread before putting the two pieces together.

Snack is dried fruit, yogurt covered fruit, carrots (with Ranch dip in the small red container), and a red Mini BabyBel with a heart cut from the wax using the mini heart cookie cutter.

Valentine’s Day Homemade Lunchables

Homemade lunches. Cheese is cut using the multi-sized heart cutter set. Salami is skewered with a heart cupcake pick.

Valentine’s Day Sandwich Pinwheels

Ham and cheese pinwheels on long heart cupcake picks. Cucumber vinegar salad, strawberries with yogurt covered raisin. The pinwheels were a big hit (and this is a big deal with my picky son) – this time I melted the cheese which also made them easier to make (tortilla plus cheese in the microwave for 20 seconds).

PB&J on a Stick

I used the FunBites sandwich cutter to make mini square PB&J sandwiches and put them on a long heart cupcake pick. Snack is dried fruit, mini cheese crackers, and strawberries.