Packing Laughs Into Lunches

Well, it's that time of year again...back to school.

And with my husband and son both back at school all day comes the age-old routine of making lunches.

And because I'm usually making these at the crack of dawn all bleary-eyed with bed-hair (soooo NOT a morning person), I make up for it by using that time to think up practical jokes to play on my guys.

Most of the time, it's writing sappy notes on their lunch bags, but I especially enjoy throwing some oddball item into their lunches just for laughs.

Whether or not they laugh I don't always find out about, but I know I laugh my head off just thinking about their reactions when they find these little surprises, and that makes it all worth it.

The trick is to pack the oddities near the bottom of the sack so that it's not a dead giveaway if they happen to peek in it before lunch.

In the past, I found that I can't very well do this every day or it would lose it's charm. Instead, I have to spread it out just long enough between times that Jericho thinks I've forgotten about my little game.

Being that school has only been in session for a couple of weeks, the only oddball thing he's found so far is a yellow onion. Packed in a plastic bag just like I would pack a sliced apple or pear.

Which I didn't find out about until way after-the-fact because after he'd laughingly told Jeff about it on their way home from school he promptly forgot all about.

A couple of days ago Jericho came home and asked, "Yeah, mom? What was with that gooey junk you put in my lunch today?"

Not having packed anything unusual, it took a few moments to figure out that he was referring to the delicious homemade peach tarts I'd made and packed into a plastic sandwich bag, which due to the tumbler-dryer effect of being in the boys backpack all day long and rendered it unidentifiable.

Naturally, he thought it was another one of my 'jokes' and tossed it.

The joke was on him, however...as he missed out on a delicious dessert! (Totally counts for bonus points in the lunch game, by the way.)

However, my all-time best caper (not counting the small jar of leftover capers, that is) was one I pulled off the last week of school in May.

Though sufficient for even his appetite, the leftover slices of pizza I packed in his lunch just didn't make the lunch sack feel quite as substantial as he seems to expect, and so, to weigh the bag down I tossed in a raw red potato.

On the way home that afternoon, he laughingly used his dad's cell phone to call what he thinks was my cell phone number (apparently punching in the number from memory), and leaves this message:

"Seriously, mom?! What was with the potato in my lunch?"

Unbeknownst to me, later that evening, Jeff receives a strange call from some mom with an unfamiliar area code. "Who IS this?"

Having not recognized the number, Jeff replied, "You've reached Jeff's phone."

"Oh." Pause. "Well, I think it must have been a wrong number or something..." the woman sounded rather puzzled. "The message left from your phone here sounded a lot like my son, but he was asking about his lunch? I dunno...nevermind." and hung up.

Later that evening, I'd long-since-forgotten about the potato, and Jericho said, "Oh, yeah...did you get my message mom?"

"Message?"

"About that potato?" he asks. "What was up with that?!"

"I didn't get a message." I replied, laughing at his facial expressions.

That was when Jeff, putting 2 and 2 together, mentioned his strange phone call and we all erupted into a fit of laughter realizing the confusion Jericho's mis-dialed message must have caused for some random mom out there, lol.

Ahhh, yes, but we just love when the hilarity keeps going, practically taking on a life of it's own.

Next up on the oddball items list...bittersweet baking chocolate.

Won't he be surprised, lol?