When I was approached by Internet Gift Store to review one of their lunch bags, it suddenly dawned on me that this time next week we will know which school Lara has been allocated a place at. Eeek. Before I know it we will be in the world of lunchboxes (or indeed school dinners!) and the struggle for ideas for what to put into her lunch each morning.
I've not owned a lunchbox since I was at school and things seem to have come on quite a lot with the lunch bag (a soft-sided container) seeming to be the current trend. I had a really good browse through the range of lunch bags on the Internet Gift Store because I wanted to choose Lara a bag which would get her excited about the prospect of school - at present she seems to hate the idea ("I want to go to nursery for ever, Mummy").
And so I chose this Hello Kitty lunch bag. There were lots of different Hello Kitty bags on offer along with lots of other favourite children's characters but this is probably the most bold and instantly recognisable of the lot.
The lunch bag is nothing out of the ordinary. The main pocket is a rounded rectangle and is a decent enough size to fit a drink, sandwich, fruit and snacks into. To test it out, I also got this metal Hello Kitty drinking flask which has a flip-top cover over the spout. The bottle isn't insulated but the aluminium casing will help to keep drinks slightly cooler. It is a 400ml bottle which is slightly smaller than I think I would want to regularly send her to school with but for the time being it will make a great container for her to carry with her throughout the day for when she needs a drink.
The Hello Kitty lunchbag zips up and has a carry handle. There is also a small name tag at the bottom so that it will be identifiable when it is placed on a shelf with everyone else's lunch bags. I'm hoping that simply having the lunch bag will get Lara excited about the prospect of "picnic" lunches with new school friends. At £8.99 for the bag and £3.99 for the bottle, I think that it is a small price for a happy Lara!
