Lunchbox Food Faces (facemats)

I got inspired this weekend.  Lunchbox inspired.  It all started with a link to the blog At Second Street where I found an awesome tutorial on how to make Food Face Plates. She even made them look like family members...awesome. Then, the next night I played the game

 Guess Who Mix N' Mash with my kids.  It's a game of creating silly faces with different game pieces and my kids LOVED it!

By Sunday we were ready to combine to two ideas into a lunchtime sensation :)  Since you can't send full size plates in a lunch box I decided to make these printable placemat-like face templates. I think I'll call them FACEMATS :)  All you do is print them out, laminate them, and you're ready to go. If they ever wear out you can just print some more. We made our face patterns in four styles: old lady, animal, alien, and man.  

CLICK HERE TO PRINT GRANDMA FACEMAT

CLICK HERE TO PRINT ANIMAL FACEMAT

CLICK HERE TO PRINT ALIEN FACEMAT

CLICK HERE TO PRINT MAN FACEMAT

Next, we got out our face making feast. (Yes, we ate this for dinner last night...I get a little excited about things sometimes and can't wait until lunch the next day to try it out.)

Here's what used for food and face parts:

Ritz crackers

Cheese cut into traingles

Raisins

Carrot slices

Grapes (cut into halves)

Broccoli florets (fresh)

Mandarin Oranges

Pineapple Tidbits

Popcorn

It only took five minutes to get the food ready and we didn't even use plates...just laminated FACEMATS.  And then the fun began. I'll be totally honest, even my husband and I were having a pretty fabulous time making faces and playing with our food.  Here's a few of our creations just before we gobbled them down:

The best part is, I can make this into a super simple school lunch (baggies with crackers, raisins, carrots, etc.) and slip a FACEMAT into the lunchbox and it's instant fun.  Send a baby wipe in the lunchbox and they can just wipe it off when they are done if needed.

Everyone was happy with dinner...which is not always the case....like when we eat regular dinner.  So, go ahead and print some out.  Use em' at home or in a lunch box.  I am a fan of playing with your food.