A few years ago, after being sparked by my friends over at the Future Craft Collective, I made my daughter’s first lunch box for her to take to school on the first day of first grade. Its been a tradition ever since. This year each of my girls selected the materials they wanted and I got busy. Big Sister chose a plastic bag that her Dad brought home from a trip to Japan earlier this year and Little Sister, who loves animals and goes to a Montessori gardening school, chose the ‘Chicken Bag’, lovingly donated to the cause by her teacher.

I realize that homemade lunch boxes are unusual but, why not? Its an opportunity for a kid to express some creativity and in these days of green consciousness and the funky economy, who needs to spend an extra $20 bucks to bring one more plastic thing into the household? Look around your house. I’ll bet you have a million plastic bags stuffed under the sink. Or what about that nearly empty bag of bird seed out in the shed? An old tarp, those pillowcases made of beautiful fine cotton from your grandmother’s house or a fitted sheet with tuckered out elastic. Keep your eyes peeled, I suspect there are lots more materials than you think that can be recrafted for a whole new lifetime of use.