Book Themed Food: Book Bento Lunch Ideas

With World Book Day fast approaching, I've been brainstorming some new book themed food ideas, specifically planning some new book bento lunch ideas for Small Child next week - I can't wait!  If you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember that for the last two years I've created a whole week of book themed lunches each year to celebrate World Book Day.  I really enjoyed making them so I'm definitely going to continue the tradition this year - look our for my book themed lunches next week!

In the meantime, I've also been looking back over some of my favourite book themed lunches from the last few years.  I thought it would be nice to pull them all together in one post to provide a bit of inspiration for anyone planning to make a book bento lunch or two for World Book Day.  If you don't normally make bento lunches, why not join me and have a go at getting creative with some fun book themed food this year?

1. Thomas the Tank Engine - Small Child has always loved his Thomas the Tank engine books, so I wasn't surprised when he requested a Thomas the Tank engine bento lunch for his first World Book Day!

2. The Gruffalo - from purple prickles to roasted fox, this Gruffalo bento lunch has plenty of fun Gruffalo themed food ideas! I also made a different Gruffalo themed lunch two years ago, with a fun homemade Gruffalo pizza!

3. Elmer the Elephant - Both of my boys love Elmer, with his bright patchwork colours! This Elmer bento lunch that I made two years ago remains one of my favourites, be sure to check out the post for the matching Elmer dessert box!

4. Lost and Found - This book has always been a huge favourite of Small Child's and I look forward to introducing it to Small Baby in the near future too! This Lost and Found Bento Lunch was a huge hit!

5. Hairy Maclary - We love the Hairy Maclary books and have stacks of them on Small Child's book case! I was really pleased with my artistic efforts with an edible marker pen for this Hairy Maclary book lunch!

6. We're Going on a Bear Hunt - We love the fun rhymes in this book, and they provided me with plenty of ideas to work with for this Going on a Bear Hunt bento lunch.

7. The Twits - In the last 6 months Small Child has read his way through pretty much all of the Roald Dahl children's books, he loves them!  I made this 'The Twits' bento lunch for Roald Dahl Day last year. I also made another themed around The Magic Finger which you can see in the same blog post.

8. Tiddler - Another fab Julia Donaldson book, Tiddler was one of Small Child's favourite books when he was younger.  I was particularly proud of the edible tortilla net that I made for this Tiddler bento lunch two years ago.

9. The Very Hungry Caterpillar - First I loved it, then Small Child and now Small Baby loves the Very Hungry Caterpillar - not a day goes by that I don't have to read this one to Small Baby at the moment! This was another of the lunches that I made for Small Child's first World Book Day - be sure to check out the rest of this Very Hungry Caterpillar bento lunch over in the original blog post!

10. Harry Potter - Small Child is a massive Harry Potter fan, and is working his way through the first few books for his bedtime story each night at the moment.  You can find all the details for making the various fun components for this Harry Potter bento lunch over at the original blog post.  I think some of the ideas I used in this lunch would make fun Harry Potter party food too, and could also be adapted for a fun Room on the Broom lunch!

That's it from me and my book bento lunches, until next week anyway! Do you celebrate World Book Day at all, and if so how?

Grace