If your kids turn up their noses at their boring brown-bag lunches, you might try wrapping their noontime fare in a more compelling package. A PB&J takes on a whole new luster when it rides inside a flashy tiger tote or another of Built NY [1]'s Munchler lunch boxes.
The insulated polypropylene bags, available for $10 at Village Maternity [2], come in four animal shapes. There's a yellow tiger, a green rabbit, a pink panda and a black and white dog.
Children's book illustrator Steve Savage (Polar Bear Night [3]) designed the distinctive lunchtime companions, which unzip to lie flat and double as placemats. All the better for keeping germs at bay in the weekday zoo that is the school cafeteria. The critters' ears serve as handles, tailored for carrying by small hands.
In addition to their aesthetic and sanitary benefits, easy-to-clean Munchlers are also eco-friendly: Carrying a lunch box instead of a paper bag could save hundreds of lunch bags over the course of a school year.
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