Three dreaded words—back to school. We are officially back at it, and I’d be lying if I said I was happy about it. I love my kids being home in the summer! As a working mom, there is inevitable guilt, so I’ve tried for years to come up with different ways to stay connected to my kids while they’re at school/I’m at work.
When they were little, I had mailboxes in their rooms to leave notes for them. Now that they’re in school all day, I implemented a way to “check in” with them while they’re there. Anyone else have a pile of scrap scrapbook paper like I do? I never know what to do with it, so I keep it. Forever.
I cut the paper into semi-similar sizes and used some leftover stickers and such to decorate as many as possible. Keep in mind, these are not intended for my teenager. These are for the little one.
And if you’re little one is anything like me, she likes girly things! I pick up these napkins throughout the year at party stores, TJMaxx, etc for just over $1.00. It’s just a little way to personalize her lunch, and she loves it.
Since my husband’s schedule now means he has to pack their lunches (yes!), I sat down in front of a movie the other night and wrote out a bunch of notes to have ready for her when he sends her off to school.
I’ve mentioned my lunch drawer before, and it’s still one of my “must haves” for the school year. It holds most items needed for easy lunch-making duty.
The look of this drawer can vary throughout the year. I often pre-bag their crackers in here in order to break down on snacking too much after school as well. Instead of eating a whole package of crackers, they know they get a baggie that’s already been prepared for them.
While they love the notes, I think their favorite is the one-line jokes or riddles I send! There are lots of cute sites that will provide you with lots of them, but I included a few links to the ones I used for them.
- Cute one-line jokes
- Short riddles (these are submitted by kids!)
- Halloween jokes
- Christmas jokes (Yes, I wrote them out that far)
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Awww! I love the little notes! so cute!
Love these ideas, and started slipping notes in our kiddo’s lunches too. Just a thought…I bet your teen would love a note too. 🙂
thanks for the joke links. i’m thinking those will be a hit around here too.
I leave notes, jokes, and riddles, too. I also found cute “Love Bug” notes at either Hallmark or Target that have encouraging and uplifting words for school age kids. I love the idea of the lunch drawer. Makes things go much more smoothly when it’s packing time, I bet.
I write them ahead of time also, for Holidays too, add stickers, stamps etc….she love it and it saves me lots of time in the mornings!
I love your notes and your lunch drawer……..I loved this idea so much I pinned it……
How sweet! One of my favorite memories from grade school (and even middle school!) was opening my lunch box and seeing a note from my mom. She never missed a day. 🙂 Your kids will always remember this!
I have been know to write jokes on my children’s bananas, though perhaps not that far in advance…
What fun! I should start packing my kids lunches even though we homeschool! Yeah right – like THAT will happen – I hate to pack lunches!
I love your idea about the lunch drawer. I bet that’s a real time saver. I write notes to my kids as well.
Oh, I hear ya about the guilt. Yesterday was a bad one for me wondering the purpose of all the busyness. I cherish those 8 weeks off in the summer! Love the riddle notes idea! Thanks!
These are so cute. I am definitely pinning this for next year when my daughter starts taking a lunch to school.
love visiting your blog. LOVED this lunch drawer idea! Thanks for sharing!
You are such a great mom! I sometimes put love notes in my daughter’s lunch bag, but I love the idea of also doing riddles. Thanks for sharing those links!
Such a great idea – and love that you put special napkins in there too. I’ll have to pick some up the next time I’m out…
Love this. I’m looking forward to using some of these ideas…thank you for sharing!
Such a cute idea! I remember your lunch drawer post a few years back and I didn’t have any little ones in school then but it is such a good jumping off point for me now with Kindergarten and Preschool. It would make my night before school so much smoother. Sometimes after I have packed lunches, snacks, water bottles and my own things for work I feel like I need a cooler on wheels to load into the car! Also, those napkins, such a cute idea, a girl who appreciates a “pretty” in her lunch is one after my own heart 🙂
Lovely !!!
Thank you so much for sharing this post. My husband and I watched our nieces and nephew this weekend and I knew I wanted to pack their lunches with notes. The oldest is nine and would not have appreciated anything sappy – I was so excited to leave him a joke because I know he will love it. I never would have thought to do that on my own… =)
Great idea! I have a good, deep drawer for this too – and all it holds now is boxes of foil and baggies anyway! Genius! Maybe my kids (11 and 14) will be inspired to pack their own lunch!