Eggs are our ingredient of the season. That link will take you to our archive of egg posts.

Have you heard or seen the crazy awesome bento box lunches that Japanese mom’s make for their kids? Apparently some moms spend hours every morning crafting these works of art… we aren’t suggesting that you do that, but we do have a couple of fun tools that can make snack time more fun and funny. 

BUT before we even get started, just know that we’re making these without the expertise, perfect, or social pressure of a Japanese mom. We’re making these with an extra five minutes and the urge to add a bit of imperfect whimsy to our afternoons.

Egg Molds

With a set of these molds you can turn hard-boiled eggs into cute little figures.

I’ve always used these molds with hard boiled eggs that are freshly peeled while still hot. Pop the peeled hot egg into the mold, close it, and let it sit for a couple of minutes. When you open the mold, the egg will be in its new shape. As you can see from my freshly-opened molds, you make have to trim off some bits of the egg that were squished around the edges of the design.

The molds can also be used for sticky rice or other bento box creations, so they’re definitely not a single-use item.

Seaweed Punches

The second bento item that we use often are these seaweed punches (we have these too).

You use the punches to cut eyes, mouths, and whiskers from sheets of nori. I used the face shapes to decorate the cut halves of hard-boiled eggs. But beware, if you get these punches you’ll be added faces to all sorts of things… In our house it’s common to find avocado toast smiling back at you.

If you’re looking for more bento box inspiration, this cookbook is a lot of fun.