Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Old School Lunch Boxes

Seeing an old metal lunch box takes me back.  Remember all of the different ones you'd see at school?  Dukes of Hazard, G.I. Joe, Incredible Hulk, Strawberry Shortcake?

I remember one of my personal favs - Holly Hobby!

I can remember clutching the handle tightly in my hand on the school bus each day.

So it was extremely sweet when my husband bought me the same style of Holly Hobby lunch box that I had as a little girl :) (gotta love eBay!)





It sits lovingly on my craft table filled with little sentimental odds and ends {my personal treasures}.

It was such a shame when they replaced the metal with plastic in the 1980's (although I can understand why - the old metal ones got rusty over time)...but still, something was lost.

So I still have a fondness for the metal ones.  I was elated to find little ones at Walmart & Target in the seasonal aisle for my son (they came filled with candies and things).  One of his favorites is a school-bus shaped one filled with Sesame Street characters:



 We use it to hold all of his mis-matched, well worn, and broken crayons. 




And I have another darling, little metal box (although not a lunch box) that I got from a seed company many many years ago on my craft table:




It's perfect to hold little notepads and punches.  

I love a cute way to keep things organized - and little metal boxes and nostalgic lunch boxes make great conversation pieces! 

16 comments:

  1. I like the old tin lunchboxes, too...
    I have some Lucy ones and a Betty Boop.
    Hope you are having a good week, glenda

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  2. They sure don't make them like they used to!!! I remember carrying my metal lunchbox to school everyday in the first grade and then using it at home for so many other things all of the years later. I loved it! When my son first went to school and needed a lunchbox, I immediately looked for a metal lunchbox for my son and found one (though it was Mario Bros. inspired!) that he liked. That stinkin' thing fell apart in no time flat. I was so bummed!!! The metal wasn't as sturdy so it was smashed easily. I had to replace the joints which fell out even faster than the box got smashed... We ended up opting for a soft lunchbag instead in the end and tossing that expensive one in the recycling :(

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  3. My mom still has all of ours from childhood!! They are the best. My favorite.....wait for it, wait for it.....Mork N Mindy!!!!

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  4. Hi Judy sweetie...
    I so love this post. I remember my first lunch box. We didn't have any of the wonderful characters, mine was a little red plaid one. I would give anything to have that lunch box today. They did not have a cafeteria so everyone took their lunch, and we all basically had plaid metal, or you took a paper sack.

    I have always loved Holly Hobby. Such a sweet print, and we used to could even buy fabric as such. Where did those days go?

    Thank you for sharing today. I love it when new friends do. I have signed up to follow your blog. I can't wait to see what you share next. I would be honored if you followed me as well. I love to chatt. Daddy always called me his "Chatty Cathy, Sherry".

    Have a beautiful day sweetie. Country hugs from Country Wings in Phoenix, Sherry

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  5. Awwhh what a great guy to snag that Holly Hobbie one for you! I swear I had the SAME one!! I was in loooove with Holly and her friend Heather!! I even had the sleeping bag. And can you believe my very first knitting project was that I knit Holly a little blankie with fringe on the ends! Don't get me started......I'm still into the whole "jar" thing over here....can't get enough of them!!

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  6. Oh man, this post just sucked me right back in time! I had that same Holly Hobbie lunch box! I also had a Strawberry Shortcake one. Thanks so much for the smile this morning!

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  7. I had a Charlie Brown one! I think my mom still has it. I'll have to ask.

    I love tins and glass jars and anything that stores stuff!

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  8. I had a few lunchboxes back in the day!

    My favorite was Strawberry Shortcake.

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  9. I used to love Holly Hobby! It makes me shudder when I see young girls playing with Brats dolls these days. Holly was so innocent :(

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  10. Tin lunch boxes.....thank you for taking me down memory lane. And, thank you for those kind comments about my blog and becoming a follower. I, sincerely, appreciate it!

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  11. LUCKY! I had that same lunchbox! I also had a Welcome Back Kotter and Charlie's Angels lunchbox. Holly Hobbie was my fav though. I used to take a piece of paper and do a crayon rubbing on top of them.
    My first lunchbox was a metal Flinstones with the matching glass thermos which prompty broke on my first day of nursery school. Thank goodness for plastic and metal now!

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  12. I Loved Holly Hobbie. When I was in grade 7 I did an embroidery of HH. I still have it tucked away.

    My daughter in grade 11 loves Marvel comics. She has a tiny little Spiderman tin lunch box that she puts crackers and things in to tuck in her lunch!

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  13. I had that same holly hobbie lunch box and loved it, that brought back some fond memories, btw love your blog I just added you to my blog roll and will visit often

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  14. The vintage Holly Hobby is awesome! My girls loved Strawberry Shortcake. Mel had a Lime Chiffon doll, but no lunch box!
    I think the tin lunch boxes are great, but it seems the whole world has turned to plastic nowdays!

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  15. what a fun flashback! i had a metal strawberry shortcake one. this was a fun post to read and remember the good old days when things were definitely made better.

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