Here are 13 creative ideas to jazz up your kids’ lunch boxes this school year:

1. Go old school and write them a personalized note on a napkin. A few encouraging words are sure to brighten their day.
2. Use cookie cutters to shape sandwiches into hearts, stars or even dinosaurs! There are cookie cutters for just about any shape.
3. Decorate a plain brown paper bag with a kid-friendly joke of the day.
4. Shop for a special lunchbox your kids get to pick out themselves. We love Skip Hop’s Owl Lunch Bag.
5. Be inspired by bento box style lunches. Include a variety of snacks rather than one main dish. Finger foods are more fun to eat. If you can work in a dip, even better! There are tons of bento box lunch ideas to get you started.
6. Decorate and entertain your kiddo with animal themed pick forks to use for finger foods. These work great in a bento lunch box.
7. Take your kids grocery shopping and let them pick out one special treat each week. This can even be a homemade treat they help you make.
8. Pack a sticker. Kids love stickers and you can buy them in bulk sticker rolls.
9. Surprise them with an indulgent entree every few weeks—fluffernutter sandwiches, anyone?
10. Theme their lunches. A picnic themed lunch could include ants on a log, a juice box and a gingham napkin. You could pack a mummy dog, dirt pie with gummy worms and roasted pumpkin seeds for a spooky Halloween theme.
11. Pack a riddle of the week, each day including one clue to help solve the riddle.
12. Give them more than just sandwiches every day! Get some great ideas for non-sandwich lunches here.
13. Include deconstructed meals à la lunchables. Let’s be honest, most of the appeal of lunachables was being able to build your own cracker sandwiches!