Back to School in Style

This post is sponsored by Zazzle and contains affiliate links.  I received free products in compensation for this post but as always all opinions are my own and my daughters. When Zazzle asked if I wanted to participate in their back to school blog campaign how could I say no.  With four kids back to school is one of our busiest times of the year and it's also one of the most important.  

I always try to make the transition back to school as positive an experience as possible.  I let them choose cute school supplies and buy a few new outfits for school.  I have them make a list of requests for back to school lunches and breakfast.  I also let them pick what special thing we do at the end of the first day.  One year we had a steak dinner on the first day (I'll never say no to that), last year we got ice cream.  Every year it's different but I always try to fit our activities to their favorite things.  

This year my youngest daughter Mara's favorite thing is her You Tube channel. I couldn't think of any way to incorporate that into her return to school until Zazzle stepped in and printed her You Tube logo on a cute T shirt and lunch box for her.  I don't know who was more excited about this.  This logo is near and dear to me.  My oldest daughter Marina sketched the bunny and then I redrew it and colored it as a digital illustration and created the You Tube banner around it.  This made Mara's logo a family effort and it turned out so adorable. 

Mara's You Tube channel mainly happened because her brother and sister also have channels but that's another story entirely.  This wasn't something that happened on the spur of the moment. She asked me for years to have her own channel and I told her no. After becoming more familiar with You Tube and learning how to manage it, I finally told her yes and we've been having a blast with it ever since.  She likes to film videos with her brother and sister.  She also loves to do food challenges and of course toy reviews and unboxings. No we are not trying to be You Tube famous or go viral.  I've let them choose

what and when they want to do videos and it has to fit in my schedule so things have gone very slowly for us. 

So let's get down to the nitty gritty here and see how awesome Mara's Yubo lunch box by Zazzle is. For Mara's review you can watch the video or continue reading for my thoughts. 

Zazzle has a ton of awesome back to school products from custom and character notebooks, binders, bags, backpacks, pencil cases and lunch boxes to gifts for teachers and staff. 

I've always been curious about the Zazzle Yubo lunchboxes so I was excited to get a closer look. First of all I love the fact that these are hard plastic.  Which means no more squished food and snacks. I also love that the handle is adjustable and can be clipped onto any part of the lunch box.  So it can be carried horizontally or vertically. 

The lunchbox is made entirely of plastic.  It's dishwasher safe and it's BPA-free, phthalate-free, lead free and is 100% recyclable.  When you order it comes with two inserts for the front and back. They are not dishwasher safe but they are water proof. I washed them with warm soap and water and they held up beautifully.  You can also order just the inserts if you'd like to swap them out or replace them.  

The box can be opened from the front or the back and snaps on nice and secure to keep the contents in.  My only worry with this was that Mara wouldn't be able to open it on her own but she did on the first try.  Since it's a snap on cover you might want to practice reattaching the lid a few times before the first use.  Mara also pointed out that the lid acts as a handy tray you can eat off of. 

It also comes with a large sandwich container, two small round containers and an ice pack to keep everything cool. My first thought was where would I put a drink, but the sandwich container is large enough to fit a sandwich and juice box.  They do sell an attachable drink holder that straps to the outside of the box.  I like this idea but I'm not sure if it would be too heavy for Mara.  The box itself is light but when you add the ice pack it increases the weight significantly. 

Overall Mara loves her new lunch box.  It was fun for her to open it up and figure it out and play with it.  She's so excited now to get back to school with her matching lunch box and T shirt from Zazzle. 

For more lunch box design options you an visit my Zazzle shop. All boxes except Bunny Rabbit Sparkle, have a customize-able name on the back.