Calling All Lunchbox Moms & Dads

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If you enjoy making your kids' lunch for school, then you will love this article from The Wall Street Journal. Writing notes, decorating sandwiches and fruits, and placing those famous chocolate chip cookies the other kids are dying to trade for...making your child's lunch has always been a special moment for any parent. Katherine Rosman discusses the transformation of lunchboxes in her article To Pack An A-Plus Lunchbox:

Celie McKay, age 4, and her brother Fionn, 2, of Lexington, Ky., get the same thing for lunch almost every day—a note from their mom, Liz Swanson. Ms. Swanson keeps it simple. "YOU ARE LOVED," she'll write. Or, in blue crayon, "BLUE!" Sometimes she makes "happy bananas," which are bananas that she decorates with a drawing or googlie-eyed stickers.

Ms. Swanson, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Kentucky, likes to show her kids she loves them with art and notes. "You could probably psychoanalyze moms by the notes they leave in their kids lunches," she says.

The lunch-box note used to be an occasional smiley face on scratch paper. Now it's an elaborate fixture of the school cafeteria. Some kids complain when they don't get a lunch note. Or they may compare lunch notes with friends. Parents hear about it when their efforts fall short.

Enter the retailers. Pottery Barn Kids and Toys "R" Us sold packets of preprinted notes this back-to-school season. Lunchbox Love, a line of preprinted cards from Say Please, Inc., are priced at $3.99 for a small box of 12 at Pottery Barn Kids. Messages include "You've become so mature," "I love you unconditionally" and "I can't believe how creative you are."

Disney has introduced free downloads of lunch notes featuring Ariel, Mickey Mouse and other characters on its Family.Go.com website. "Don't Eat Too Fast!" says a note featuring Lightning McQueen from "Cars."

Read more at The Wall Street Journal