These Must-Have Accessories for School Bento Boxes for Kids will make your hectic lunch packing mornings so much easier (and cuter:)!

A graphic for the post - a spread of different accessories for school lunch bento boxes.

Once your kid has picked out their bento box, there aren’t many other tools or accessories that you need in order to pack your kiddos a healthy lunch.

In fact, you don’t really need anything else.

But, having a few fun (and cute) items to help make you excited about packing lunches everyday, and your kids excited to eat them, is worth their cheap price. Yes, I said cheap. Most of the items below are between $4-$8.

I like to pick up a fun new accessory for lunches every couple of months, to help keep the boxes fresh. It also helps me get back into making lunches, because even I have a hard time packing exciting lunches everyday for months on end.

Veggie + Sandwich Cutters

Having some small veggies and sandwich cutters on hand is an easy way to transfer a normal lunch into a WOW lunch! When Ellie first started school I would use play-dough cutters (I did clean them first) and then I invested in a couple of different sets of both veggie and cookie cutters.
The veggie cutters are usually made out of metal and can be used for both fruits and vegetables. The cookie cutters are best for using on sandwiches.

My favorites include-
Purple Flower Cutters – great for making cut out cookies and also cutting out sandwiches. You can get all fancy and do a larger flower for the outside edge and then cut a smaller flower through one piece of the bread in the middle for a cut-out affect. They also come in Heart and Star shaped patterns if flowers are not our thing.
Metal Veggie Cutters – I love this 8-pack of cutters because you get the same shape in two different shapes (they also have a 4-pack version as well). They work great on harder veggies like carrots and peppers as well as watermelon, cucumber and cheese.
Cookie Cutters – This 101 cookie cutter set is actually the second set of cookie cutters I bought because in the first set, the cutters were actually too large for the sandwiches. This set works great for normal sized cookies and for cutting out sandwiches. It includes some holiday themed cutters, all the letters and numbers and some fun shapes in different sizes.

Reusable Cupcake Holders

I LOVE having brightly colored reusable cupcake holders around the house for baking and packing lunches in. The girls love to take them and hide all of their newest treasures (rocks, buttons, collected leaves) in them. You can see how I use them for lunches here.

My favorite brand is Freshware because the they are made with great quality silicone, are BPA, PVC and Phthalate Free! They also come in a ton of fun designs, such as a flower, bear, star and heart as well as the classic round, square and rectangle style. I have the flower, circle and rectangle ones and use them all of the time!

Small Cute Dip Containers

At $4, these 4-pack of cute containers are probably the best school lunch purchase I have made! The are the perfect size for holding dips, spreads and small sweets such as chocolate chips, dried fruit and chocolate covered raisins. I actually have 2 sets because the girls have to have the same color of container in their lunches (eye-roll). They come in Dots/Stripes Set, Rainbow/Star Set, Panda/Bunny Set.

Melon Baller

This is so 1950s of me, but I love my melon baller! So easy to use and it makes melon and other soft fruit so much more fun! I first bought a cheap melon baller because I thought all melon ballers would be created equally – not the reality. I then realized that this melon baller was so much better! Spend the extra $3 for a nice one, you will have it for the rest of your life.

Sandwich Sticks

Every kid loves a sandwich on a stick! Even if it is the same pb&j you always make, just cut it up or use a small cookie cutter, thread it onto a stick and TADA – the best lunch ever!!

I keep two different types of sticks on hand – 6″ wooden skewers and lollipop sticks. The wooden skewers are great for sandwiches (don’t forget to cut the pointy end before sending to school) and the lollipop sticks are great for fruit kebabs and other heavier foods.

And don’t forget..

Bento Boxes

To pick out the best Bento Box – 9 Best Kids Bento Boxes for School (expert review)

Lunch Bags

Also, check out my 24 Cute + Fun Insulated Lunch Bags for Toddler + Kid post.

Bento Lunch Ideas

Little Bento – 32 Irresistible Bento Box Lunches for Kids

What the Kiddos Ate – Lots of posts about Ellie’s school lunches

You can also check out my Instagram account for more current school lunches

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