I’ve always liked to send a little note to my kids in their lunches. I want them to know throughout the day, that I love and miss them. My boys are 8 and 10, and I don’t want to embarrass them with mushiness when it could get into the wrong hands. So last year I decided to do something a little different and sent jokes in with their lunches….. and they absolutely LOVED it! On the days that I missed, they let me know and the next day reminded me to put a new joke in there. Not only did they enjoy it, but their table-mates at lunch also looked forward to it. Sometimes I would come in to visit for lunch, and every once in a while would catch them as they pulled out that joke and read it to themselves first, and get a big smile on their face before sharing it with their friends. Melted. my. mothers. heart. It’s a little thing that means a lot.
I spent several hours last year coming up with a major Word document of jokes. I printed out the list and kept them in a secret spot in the kitchen, so I could easily access them each morning when I prepared their lunches. I hand wrote them each morning, but now I am sharing my research with you in a cute/gender neutral printable!
I asked my design friend Aimee over at Sprik Space to spice them up with some colorful borders, and she made it printer friendly and flipped so that the answers (and enough space to handwrite) are on the back! I have over 100 jokes, but it will take a bit to transfer them all over to this cute style, so I am rolling out 10 a week for the next while until I’ve shared them all. Check back each Friday to get more! CLICK HERE or on the image below to download this weeks jokes for the front/back PDF! You can set your printer to duplex printing (front & back), and it will come out looking double sided on its own. If your printer doesn’t do duplex printing, just print the front page and re-feed the paper to print the back.
Be the coolest mom in the class, and make note-writing fun for your kids, too! Next Friday, I’ll share more jokes;)
*Edited to add: All the lunch jokes are up! Week 1 is above. To get the rest, click on the links: Week 2, Week 3, Week 4 I’ve also made Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter jokes!
P.S. If you haven’t been to Sprik Space, you need to check out her free printables…I especially love her Pattern Pieces!
Kristen Duke
Latest posts by Kristen Duke (see all)
- Almond White Chocolate Caramel Corn - May 22, 2013
- Summer Favorite Things - May 19, 2013
- Fudgy Vanilla Brownie - May 17, 2013
Awesome idea!!
GREAT idea!! Thanks for sharing! I’m hoping my girls will be more excited to take their lunches this year!
LOVE it! And wow, thanks for doing all the work and making it so easy for us to look cool for our kids, too!
Oh my gosh! These are DARLING!!! Thank you for sharing them, really! My kids are going to love this!
Love these!! They’re cute and funny!!
LOVE IT!! Thank you so much for including the printable – awesome!!
These are awesome, Kristen! Thanks for posting them – my kids are going to love these.
You Rock! So excited you did this for everyone. I used the jokes last year too, but having them printed and ready to go will be awesome this year! Thanks, friend!
So great! Thank you for sharing!
These are great! Thank you for sharing!
I found you through Tip Junkie! I have been looking for something like this for a while now! Thank you so much for sharing with us! I have bookmarked you and will be back often!
great idea! thank you for sharing!!
This is awesome! What a great idea! Thank you so much for sharing! My kids start school next week and I was thinking that a note from mom would be a little bit much for the first day of middle school, but this is better! THANKS!
Thank you SOOOOO much!!!! I love these and I know my daughters will too!!!!
These are so fun! Thanks for sharing them, I know my kids will love them.
Such a great idea! My boys will LOVE this!
AWESOME idea! I am so glad to be in the stage when mushy notes are okay, but I see the other days coming. Possibly this school year.
Has anyone else had trouble downloading/printing the jokes from 4shared.com? I usually don’t have any trouble with these things, but this morning I’ve spent an hour and haven’t gotten anywhere. If the pdf files can just be emailed to me, that would be wonderful. This set is so perfect for my kids, but I don’t have any more time to try to get to them.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi! I just found these fabulous free printables via Sprik Space on TT & J. I wanted to give you a big THANK YOU!! I was getting ready to try and make my own for my boys (ages 5, 8 & 11). You saved me SO much time! Thanks again! Hope you have a splendid weekend. Smiles~Beth
I so want to do this! I feel like I am not that up to speed on the technicalities of how to print these, but I am for sure saving these and want to share this joy with my kiddos when they get old enough! So nice of you to share!
How fun!! Thanks for sharing!
wont let me download
Thank you,your site is soooo cute.
Thanks for this wonderful resource – I created a year’s worth of lunchbox jokes that match up with seasons and holidays as well – and I used them all last year! It will be so GREAT to have a fresh resource for this school year!
I was doing this by writing the jokes with permanent markers on their napkins. It was taking an evening to write a months worth especially since I also have 3 in school! I so appreciate you taking the time to save me some time. You’re absolutely right about everyone looking forward to reading the jokes. My youngest is a bit on the shy side, so when kids starting crowding around at lunch asking what her joke of the day was, it was a great ice-breaker for her.