Christmas bentos bring good cheer to lunch
Due to being in hospital/sick and all that kind of not-fun stuff, I didn’t get to do a Halloween bento roundup [1] this year. So to make up for that, here’s a Christmas bento roundup from the always inspiring JustBento flickr pool [2]. I’ve especially picked out ones with simple yet clever, easy to copy ideas - so that you could make yourself a cherry Christmas bento too!
First up is another great bento from the ever talented Sheri of Happy Little Bento [3], whose work I think has appeared in every single bento roundup I’ve ever done. I chose this out of the many Christmas bentos she’s done this year because of its simplicity: the snowman is made out of two quail eggs stuck together, essentially. The dried cranberry buttons are so right! Read more about this bento on her blog [4].
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Here is another egg-Snowman by Ariani of Bebento [6]. This one features a little carrot hat. There is also a cute little cutout elf, which probably takes more skill and patience. Check out more cute cutouts on her blog [6].
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Maki-san aka luckysundae of Cute Obento [8] and co-author of the fabulous Yum-Yum Bento Box book [9], is a pro at using simple ideas to make the cutest bento decorations. Here she creates two little Santa chicks from inarizushi [10], cleverly using the skins as hats. The beaks are the cut off ends of wiener sausages.
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Onigiri (rice balls) are always the easiest things to shape into something cute. This snowman by Genetta of the appropriately named My Lunch Is Cuter Than Yours [12] couldn’t be more straightforward, but is so effective. Notice how even the red of the Mini Babybel adds a festive holiday air? The jaunty peperoni scarf is a very nice touch. Read more about it here [13].
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And last but not least is this cutest of cute Santa Claus onigiri bento by Mokiko of Bohnenhase [15]. The bright red Santa caps are the ends of red peppers (a really versatile part of the vegetable [16]) and the white bands are strips of cheese. And I just love the staging, with the tiny bundles of chocolate ‘presents’! More about this bento in English and German here [17].
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Happy Holidays to all bento fans!
By the way, I haven’t spotted any Chanukah or Kwanzaa bentos this year (although this lovely Chanukah bento by gamene of Bentozen from 2 years ago [19] is still a standout). If you’ve seen any, let me know. I’d love to see what creative things people come up with…as long as it doesn’t go the wacky Sandra Lee route [20] of course ^_^;.