i am not posting this to make you think i am great.
or to make you feel like a bad mom if you don't do this.
i am posting these because i started doing this after reading a post on emily's blog (little momma & co)
she had kept notes her dad had put in her lunchbox when she was a kid.
i saw them and thought "i should do that!"
so i started.
these are a few of talby's lunch box notes.
she packs her own lunch most of the time…
i help her if she is running low on time.
then while she eats breakfast…if i have time….i make a silly little note.
( i wish you could see and hear the morning scene at our house before school…oh my..it's chaos)
she knows i make it but never looks until lunch…she likes the surprise.
just scraps of paper with goofy pictures and notes.
i have some guilt that i didn't do this for lauren's lunches.
but i guess with all those babies at home….i just couldn't get to it.
and that is a bummer to think about.
and i put one in sean's lunch once….
he got in the car after school and the first thing out of his mouth
"mom! don't ever do that again! it was so embarrassing!"
i just cracked up.
i should have known.
scott rarely packed a lunch.
so i did it once.
he said it was funny.
so see…i am not that great…i completely overlooked one child and mortified another.
but i make one of them smile when she is away at school.
and it is so easy.
just passing an idea from one mom to another….
carissa... brown eyed fox - okay… i do it too… but my notes are NOTHING like yours!
you are WAY too creative!
Lisa - I love that! It ALMOST makes me able to tolerate the idea of sending my oldest to kindergarten next year. I can send a little piece of me with her…whether she wants it or not! LOL. Thanks for the idea!
Maria Masurat - I just dropped my daughter off for her second year of college in San Francisco (we live in St. Louis)and she told me how much she loved getting notes from me everyday when she was in grade school – I love your notes to your daughter – your making Great memories!
seleta - You’re so creative. And fun. What a cool mom. Way cool.
I’m trying this with my four tonight!
lauren - just a thought for your older daughter or your son who thought it was embarrassing…
with my teenaged sons, i will stick a post it note in their lunch with a favorite movie line, or a line from a show i know they like (usually it’s the office…)
it doesn’t say ‘love,mom’ or include x’s and o’s but they know it’s from me and they know i’m thinking of them. sometimes their friends get a kick out of it too.
love your blog.
Ann at the Handley Bungalow - Great idea, Meg! I put a note in my daughter’s lunch today but it wasn’t as cute as yours!! Your blog is so much fun to read. You are such a wonderful mom. I learn so much from you! Sincerely, Ann
Sarah - Same effects with my sons….sigh…
Jodi Brown - I adore your blog! I look at it often! I have never commented but just had to on this post! When I was a little girl my mom put notes in my lunch, not every day. Things to make me laugh or if she knew I was having a hard time. I always thought it was nice. My BF started getting notes in her lunch too and I didn’t think much of it. When we were much older she admitted that she was so jealous that she was making her own notes! You are definately making Talby feel special!
Mrs. Sitcom - Those notes are AWESOME! What a GREAT idea…and they all look like you spent hours on them — so creative and cute and beautiful. I’m going to file this idea away for when we have kidlets. What a fun, special tradition!
Allison - I remember the little notes my mom put into my lunchbox as a kid. made me feel so special. It was the favorite part of my day 🙂
Beth - That is so cool, and your little drawings are so (I can’t think of a word that doesn’t make me sound like I’m stuck in the 70’s), ok COOL. Really. I put notes in my kids lunches once in awhile, but nothing like this. Very very special. A wonderful memory for Talby.
deb meyers - I love every bit of this post — especially your funny honesty!
My Annie (age 12) has a metal lunchbox. I put magnetic fridge poetry bits inside the lid (occasionally) and she drives herself nuts waiting to surprise herself with it at lunch.
She has taken to writing little notes and sticking them in my hub’s business trip suitcase : )
deb meyers
Angela - I thought about doing this for my son, but he’s three and can’t read yet. He just started preschool (Tu/Th, 9-2) last week, and I pack his lunch when he goes. I may put in a picture of a fire truck or something. But I can’t draw. So maybe I’ll just wait until he can read. LOL
Mary - How fun. I’ve decided there isn’t any guilt allowed when comparing what happens with the different kids. We do what we can to survive, and we love our kids in the best we know how at that moment in time. Your kids are lucky to have you for a mom. I’m going to try these notes in my daughter’s lunch.
Aby - Too cool. Mine aren’t that colorful or creative, but my girls (twins) started 2nd grade this morning and I’m proud to say that they have never taken their lunch that I didn’t include a note. They’re proud to say it too. It’s really special for them. In fact, Makinley told me this morning that I could stop putting notes in her lunch when she’s in high school… but not until then.
Trina McNeilly - I love putting notes in lunches… never thought of drawing.. that is great.. now only if I could draw… you are a great drawer…another new talent!!!! Thanks for sharing the idea! Happy week to you!
adrienneK - o cute! well the girls dont have school but my hubby brings his lunch to work and i leave him notes 🙂 (he’s jsut practice for when the girls do have school and lunches)
xoxo
adrienne K
Emily - My blog is not private!
I’m still here!
http://www.littlemommaandcompany.blogspot.com
Becky @ Farmgirl Paints - My mom always did that for me too. She wrote me Roses are Red, Violets are blue poems:) I try to do this for my little one now. What a great way to let your child know how much you care. Trust me they will remember it and be grateful one day.
Rachel / cREaTe - i love it. my favorite was the one when it was YOUR birthday & you asked her to frost cupcakes with you! oh that melts my heart & gives me warm fuzzies. i think it’s so sweet to let kids know we think of them even when they think we’re NOT. 🙂
Kylie - Meg-it touched my heart that you do this. My Mother did this for me as a kid, and at 30 years old, I can say that I have such great memories of opening my lunchbox in the cafeteria, and finding a little something special in there. It always seemed to make my sandwich taste a little better! I lost my sweet Mother 10 years ago, and it is things like the lunchbox notes that make my heart smile. Keep it up…..yours kids will cherish it.
Jen - I don’t do this regularly but occasionally and it’s always a hit. I just use a sharpie and write on the napkin! My kids are 17. 14. 12 and 10 and so far, they don’t mind. Hopefully someday they will look back on it fondly!
Enjoy these special memories!!
amy - I wrote little things on Maddy’s napkins last year for 1st grade. She starts 2nd grade on 9.1.09 & you have definately inspired me to kick it up a notch. I will have to get a silly joke book….now if I just knew how to doodle… 🙂
misty - i think i must still be hormonal from having my daughter- or just a ball bag- either way- this made me cry- a good kind of cry though- this is so sweet and i can’t wait to be able to do this for my daughter when she goes to school in a few years- you really are an awesome mom.
Jaimie - I just started reading your blog.. stumbled upon it from a link on another.. and I must say, I love it. Your blog is one of few that really, really makes me smile and you managed to do it again today. : )
Jennifer - my mom did that for me and i saved tons of them. i always LOVED finding them in my lunch. she also put confetti in there from time to time. and sometimes she’d send me a pb & m&m sandwich. THAT was fun.
Secret Mom Thoughts - Love this idea. I wonder if it mortify or please my daughter.
J.B. Kinrich - I started putting a note in my first child’s lunch bag when she went off to middle school. The first were varients of “You can do this!” but quickly I ran out of ways to say the same thing. So I started putting in wonderful quotes I’d run across, from books, magazines, bumper stickers, whatever. The kids have kept every quote I gave them in special boxes. Now, three children and eight years later, the “lunchbox quotes” have moved out of paper bags and into daily emails. My kids still love getting them, even though they’re now 23, 20, and 16 years old.
purejoy - i used to write stupid (STUPID) jokes with a sharpie on my son’s sandwich bags. one would have the question, the other the (stupid) answer. groaners.
he and his friends loved it. the stupider the better.
this got him through middle school.
that and his spongebob lunchbox which sparked a friend getting a scooby doo, and another to get a dora the explorer.
i’m so glad all those guys were very comfortable in their zaniness.
now they’re all off to college.
and i don’t pack his lunch anymore.
sigh.
but i did every day until he graduated high school.
that’s a lot of stupid jokes!
Georgia - I remember in Infant school when i was about 6, i had notes in my lunchbox, and i remember thinking ‘ i want to go home’ it made me miss my mum .. lol
It was so special though seeing the note thinking ‘ooooooh whats this’
I did it for my boyfriend, but he didnt really say anything…. lol
Amy - I love your blog! I don’t have kids yet, but my husband and I are trying – and I absolutely love all of your ideas on your blog. I think it’s great how you encourage creativity and let you kids get messy and fun (that’s a compliment – by messy I mean it seem like you let them just go nuts and have a great time like kids should sometimes!). Please don’t stop with your great ideas! And – your photos are AWESOME. I used one of your sunflower pictures as my desktop pic because it’s just so beautiful.
Angi - I love this idea…I’m going to have to try it with my Lauren this year!!!
Jenna - My mom always put notes in my lunch. Not quite as visual as yours, but a great pick-me-up nonetheless. I wish I would have kept them. Now that I’ve graduated college and started working, I wish I would open my lunch in the breakroom and a note from mom would magically appear.
Joy - That is a WONDERFUL idea! I am all about the memories. Childhood is short, my girls are 38 and 30…I know!
lorel - Macy only brought her lunch to school every once in awhile, so I only wrote about 5 notes last year. But imagine my joy when I found a note SHE put in MY lunchbox one day! It said,”I love you mom. Have a great day. love Macy” in her best first grade handwriting.
Nancy - I love this…. I do this for my daughter, but not as often as I should nor as colorful/creative as yours. You have some great doodle skills. I like how you just wrote anything and that is what adds to the surprise. I am on it for this school year. THanks for the inspiration. You rock!
Kathy - I just started packing my teens lunch again, our school lunch program is hell. She puts a piece of paper or napkin out so I can write a note. She loves it wish I had kept them too.
jody - very cute!
i’ve put in a few notes, but it’s my husband that really does them well, and much more often. i get the chaos in the am—it never fails!
DreamGirlLisa - I just love this! Over the years I have occasionally put notes in my girls’ lunches. Always on birthdays and “just because” once in a while (wish I had done it more too). I recently posted on my blog about this, a very sweet story about my youngest and her note to me. If you have time, please read it 🙂
http://dreamgirllisa-lovingthislife.blogspot.com/2009/08/blessed.html
Thanks for sharing!
Julie - My oldest son starts kindergarten this year and I’ve been wondering if its ‘okay’ to put notes in his lunch, being he is a boy. I loved it when my mom did….but then I am also a girl. LOL! I’m guessing that I’m probably going to have to just wait it out until my third (our only girl) gets to school. I’d rather not mortify my boys! 😉
meaghan - you are such a good artist!!! who knew?! though i could have suspected 😉 so i’m having my third boy…does that mean i’m off the hook for writing notes?
Dina - I love it! My oldest is starting Kindergarten on Monday. I am thinking of little ways to let her know I love her and that I am with her on this new journey. This is another good idea to implement. 🙂
Dana M. - Hey….those look familiar! I think I have a stash of notes from you from high school that look a lot like these!! Except that our notes were passed in class and posted in eachothers lockers. They usually had drawings of us as cheerleaders and pics of what we would look like when we were “older”. I’ll have to get them out and show them to you sometime!!
Sarah - I do this last year (but only a few times). She collected them and kept them in the zipper part of her lunch box all year long.
too funny about you son saying, “don’t do it again” hahahaha
Melissa S - I did this a lot when my oldest was in Kindergarten. (2yrs ago). For some reason I didn’t do it as much last year. A couple of weeks ago, getting ready for the new school year, I came across his Kindergarten lunch box. Imagine my surprise (and tears) when I found all of those notes in the bottom zipper part. Needless to say I have started it again this year. My middle is in Kindergarten this year, so I am going to do it for him too. I like the idea above for doing jokes for the older one.
BTW – your drawings are great. Any drawings I did were stick people!
Christy - Love the notes! I did notes (minus the art) for my son in kindergarten last yr using words he was learning, his reaction was much like Sean’s. 🙁 So awesome that she enjoys them, I hope she saves them too. 🙂
Regina - I’ve done this for our daughter a little in the past myself, but the one that remains on her bulletin board to this very day (in her bedroom) is the one (and only one) that her daddy wrote to her. 🙂 No hurt feelings here…she just realizes that it’s EXTRA special when dad takes the time to do it. Same goes for camp notes, sleep-over notes, etc.
It’s the little things that make life grand! 🙂
Meredith - My mom put notes in my lunch every day! Some of them were on napkins and got tossed, but I stashed others in my yearbook at the end of the year. People’s reactions to them changed throughout the years too. In elementary school, other kids didn’t seem to pay that much attention to my mom’s notes, but in middle school some kids teased me for it. By high school, many expressed their jealousy that my mom loved me enough to write me a note every day. I am so glad there are other moms who carry on this tradition!
Traci - how cute!! you are quite the sketcher. another of your talents.
jennifer - Love that idea! My kids start school on Monday, so maybe if I start writing the notes today, they’ll be done in time. 🙂
Kirsten - Okay, I’m doing this for the first day of school for sure. And so what about the embarassing part – it builds character!
Amber - Well I do this with Sassy but mine are not as pretty!! :o)
Katy - Your a good artist!! My daughter, Olivia, started 1st grade this year and she is all about taking her lunch to school. The first time she took her lunch I put a note in to surprise her! I’ll have to continue doing it!! Thanks for the idea!
Sarah - Awww that is so cute! I don’t have kids yet, but one day I will and I really want to do this. I’m sure Talby feels really special every day when she opens her lunch. I added this to my “future parenting” folder because it is that sweet!
Michelle - I love putting surprises in lunchboxes too. Now that my son is going into 4th grade, he isn’t as crazy about it, but he sure liked it when he was little. Another good idea is to buy yourself a silly joke book and write a joke down for him every day. Sam loved that!
Now my little one is heading to K, but she doesn’t read yet. Instead, I’ve collected a bunch of stickers I know she’ll love and I’m going to stick one of those in her lunchbox every day instead.
~Michelle
Renee - Thanks for another inspirational story. You helped me make my little guy’s birthday more special (sharing your last celebration with us), and now I have a great way to let him know I’m there with him as he starts kindergarten in just two weeks. xoxo
Kate - Oh, you crack me up! I don’t know how you do it – I only have two and it keeps me on my toes! Thanks for the honestly about chaos. You rock.
Heather - My hubby did this for our son last year — pen drawings on his lunchtime napkin. Monday he starts 1st grade and I’m sure the traditions will continue! I’m inspired to capture some of the fun napkin art in pics to save for them both!!
Lori - The notes are great! Good job.And treating all your kids the same is overrated cause they never think it is exactly the same anyway!
My kids are definately in the mortification stage (teens). But when they were little I found a product that consisted of lunch box notes that were a story, told one note at a time. I bought the mystery ones, so each day they would read a little bit of the story until the mystery was solved. I’m not a creative writer (and hate writing, ergo, no blog) so I resorted to purchasing the notes. Of course, once in a while I wrote a short note and stuck it in too.
kasey - great idea.
but i’m sure if i try it….it’ll be the day that there is a match lying around and the whole school will burn down.
don’t downplay the type of mother you are… obviously your readers love you.
xo
Tammy Sabourin - Love this idea!
TRACI - That made me cry!!!! SO sweet that you do it and even sweeeeeter tha she keeps them!!!!! Darn, I homeschool 😛 lol
Michelle B - This is so cute! My little guy just started transitional kindergarten last week. And it is all day, so he brings his lunch. I was just thinking I should sneak in some notes…although he can’t read yet…and I need to learn how to draw robots! But maybe I can sneak in some fun before he gets too cool for his mommy.
thanks for sharing!