I am quite literally ecstatic over the fact that you have landed on my site here at Kids Lunch Box.net because I’m excited about finally sharing a passion which I’ve been hiding my entire life from all but those closest to me.
Hi, my name is Amanda and I have been keeping a collection which I am utterly enamored with a secret primarily because — while other little girls have been collecting Barbie dolls, teddy bears and hair ribbons — I’ve been collection something else. Unlike my peers, I’ve been amassing something less commonplace and a whole lot less popular.
What is that something else which excites me so, yet prevents me from easily revealing? I will tell you soon enough but please allow me to lead up to it gradually. After all, it’s been tucked away in a darkened proverbial closet for many years and it begs gentle patience before complete exposure.
It all started in my toddler years. As a very young kid I watched my mother lovingly preparing a couple of sandwiches, a few cookies, a shiny apple and freshly brewed coffee in a wide-mouthed thermos. All this she then packed into a grey tin box with a rounded handle and a snapping latch. This was a six-day-a-week ritual that was always followed by my parents sharing a kiss and exchanging “have a good day” wishes which was then followed by my father grabbing the fully loaded tin box with one hand, ruffling my unruly hair with the other and walking out the front door only to return many hours later while still holding the same tine box.
It wasn’t till later years when I finally learned that this tin box which had grown to mean LOVE and CARING to me, was a lunch box whose contents nourished my father and sustained him through a long day at the office.
Attributing so many wonderful feeling, there was nothing that I wanted more than a lunch box and my dream finally came true when I was enrolled into pre-school and was awarded my first and very own lunchbox. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen as it featured a pastel pink coating that was garnished with multi-colored butterflies, a bright red hand and a pair of shiny gold clasps that clicked when opened and clacked when shut. Anyone who ever witnessed my joy found it of no surprise that, come every Christmas and each birthday, it was lunch boxes which I asked for.
Thus, this was the beginning of my collection of lunch boxes. There, I’ve said it … I have just disclosed my secret collection. I collect lunch boxes. Yes, lunch boxes. I am a collector of lunch boxes and I now have neatly tucked away in an upper shelf of my closet a collection of lunch boxes of various colors, shapes, patterns and styles.
Today, I am middle aged or nearly that and my lunch box collection includes girly boxes decorated with cutesy animals themes, soft nature scenes and storybook princesses, fairies and gnomes. Being of the female gender one might expect that I’d be satisfied with feminine lunch boxes but no, my assortment also includes lunch boxes embellished with monsters and superheroes, famed political figures, Hollywood movie characters, music industry icons, sports champions, gruesome wild life, bloodcurdling science fiction topics and so on and one.
My excitement over lunch boxes did not only lead me to collecting them, I also took the time to do research from a variety of sources such as good, old fashioned books at the library, a wide range of magazines and periodicals and, of course, the Internet. So, I have now stored quite a bit of data pertaining to lunch boxes — the historic origins, their cultural impact, their economic symbolism, their psychological bearings and, of course, their inventors, designers, manufacturers and distributors.
Oh, yes. I also stockpile cookbooks which include inspirational, innovative and creative lunchbox ideas appropriate for young children, grown adults, holidays, special occasions and more.
This is Amanda speaking and I confessing being the quintessential collector of lunch boxes — a collector who is avid about my compilation. You’ve already heard how it all started for me but what are the real origins of lunch boxes or lunch tins or lunch pails, as they are also known? Well, I’ll be happy to tell you all that I know. Please take your time to read this page to the end and then look through all the other posts which I’ve published to this KidsLunchBox.net site. And do come back frequently as I will continue to post additional articles as more interesting information becomes available.
Working people have been carrying their lunches in containers (woven baskets, cardboard cartons, cloth sacks, wooden boxes, ceramic dishes, clay packs) for many decades. However, the concept of lunch boxes as we know them today really took hold when people in the 1920s began using emptied tobacco tins which they often decorated. Astute businessmen and insightful manufacturers saw the opportunity and began designing and developing lunch boxes which were primarily geared toward school children as well as breadwinning adults of various trades. Early lunch boxes of the 1940s through the 1980s were made of lithographed metals such as tin or aluminum while injection-molded plastic and vinyl lunch boxes were introduced only in the mid-1990s.
It is important to note that fairly early on, lunch boxes had also been accessorized with a variety of thermoses or vacuum bottles which were intended to contain liquids such as hot beverages and/or soups. And so, a lunch box kit consisted of a lunch box with a matching thermos.
Stay tuned and you shall learn a whole lot more about lunch boxes and lunch box kits in general and about the personal favorites out of my own collection and those which are available at trade shows, auctions and so on. Until then, I bid you farewell and happy lunching!