The other day on Manolo Beauty (and if you haven’t gone over there yet and checked it out, it is a rather good site, if I do say so myself) I had mentioned a lunch box I used to take to school every day.  Being the 70’s/80’s, it was of course made out of metal.  That post got me thinking about those old metal lunch boxes and how different they are to the ones kids use today.

The one my son takes to school is fantastic.  It is insulated, big enough to fit everything he needs but small enough to still fit in his backpack, has a front pocket, and just does an all around good job of keeping his drink and whatever fruit I pack in there cold until lunchtime. 

So very different from the metal ones, which did a crappy job of keeping anything warm or cold, but damn, did they look good.  We didn’t know it then, but we were toting around compact works of art.  Sure, a lot of those lunchboxes were just advertising disguising themselves as something useful, but they were so much more visually stimulating.

Today we definitely choose function over form, but I can’t help but be a bit nostalgic about those metal boxes.  And really, they were useful as weapons, too.  I love things that can do double duty.  Today’s lunch boxes are soft-sided and useless in a fight.

Join me as I take a trip down memory lane…

I would have loved to have this lunch box!

Never knew anyone with one of these, but I covet it even now.

It seems out of all the recycled 80’s characters, Holly Hobbie was totally left in the dust. Confession, I had this lunch box. And I hated it. And I hated Holly Hobbie. She stood for nothing other than her dumb patchwork clothing.

I NEVER got into Strawberry Shortcake, but I was totally in the minority. I guarantee you someone in my class had this lunchbox.

Yes, we all watched Mork & Mindy, but I don’t know anybody who liked it enough to own a lunchbox with it. Maybe I was hanging with the wrong crowd.

Yes, I owned a Cabbage Patch Kid, who was inexplicably a boy.

I can sing the theme song to this show to this day.

Anybody else think the Sleestaks were pretty lame?

Because I’m having so much fun with vintage ads on Manolo Beauty, I thought I’d post an appropriate one here…

Judging by this new Daniel Edwards sculpture, it’s either breastfeeding, really bad portraits, or post-partum depression.

Our new house has a playroom for my son and his 1,345,098 Legos. You think I’m exaggerating. I’m not.

In order to liven it up a bit, yet keep it flexible for his rapidly changing tastes,I ordered some of these. Because mom, pirates are totally out now and knights and dragons are in! Du-uh!

So instead of bankrupting myself trying to keep the decor in tune with his interests, I figured he can draw and write all over these and then erase them when they fail to please him any longer.  They leave absolutely no residue and you can move them around at will without losing any of the “stickiness.”

Win for him.

Win for me.

Although I do have to recommend that washable paint go under these if possible!  Because seven year olds aren’t exactly known for their precision.

I love the idea of these. Especially if the child’s name has more than one letter from the alphabet, because how are they going to spell their name with a regular set? Perfect for a gift or for your own child! All natural and organic, safe for teething, and something I might just get for my daughter. 

Via Etsy seller Hudson Block Company

You guys,  I just bought this new, super-cool cradle for my soon-to-be-arriving daughter.  I happen to think it is just perfect!

You love it too, right?

I know, it’s only September.  But hey, all the stores have their Halloween stuff out, so I consider the holiday to be fair game. But, if you need to order a movie, it takes a while to ship and all that, so before you know it, Halloween is almost upon you!

Besides, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and it doesn’t take much for me to get into the, uh, spirit.  So sorry, couldn’t resist.

But as with all “scary” movies, buy with caution and forethought into how your little viewer will be likely to handle it.

The Nightmare Before Christmas This movie is really two movies in one, because not only does it work for Halloween, it works equally well for Christmas. I’m all about the value, you know. This is a new re-release, and you’d better snap it up quick, because once they are gone, it’s unlikely Disney will do another for a while. Take it from the woman who lost her DVD oh, eight years ago and wasn’t able to buy another until this month.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown Can this 1981 gem be any more classic? Can Linus be any cuter? And Lucy any more endearing than when she collects her brother from the pumpkin patch to put him into bed? Can Glinda just be done with the questions?

Casper Debate abounds about this movie, actually. Some people think it is horrible, while others see it as light and fluffy bit of entertainment. There are no Oscar noms here, but the kids will probably really like it.

Clifford’s Big Halloween Clifford is just one of those enduring, endearing creations that will be loved until the end of time. Trust me, you can never go wrong with Clifford.

Mickey’s House of Villains Not a movie but a collection of animated shorts held together by an admittedly thin plot device. It is a mixture of old and new shorts, along with a sing-a-long by all the Disney villains.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks Who doesn’t love Angela Lansbury in a live-action/animated movie about a magic bed? The young Ms. Lansbury plays an apprentice witch who goes on adventures with three adventurous orphans. This is old-skool Disney, and what’s not to like?

Something Wicked This Way Comes The scariest, thematically, of all the movies on this list. And it technically isn’t really about Halloween. But, this movie adapted from an excellent Ray Bradbury novel will leave you with tingles.

Corpse Bride All right, another movie not truly about Halloween. But with the underworld, ghosts and ghouls, it is sure to get you into a Halloween frame of mind. Victor Van Dort is already engaged, but somehow finds himself accidentally married to the Corpse Bride. Which bride will he pick, the one that’s alive, or the one that’s dead?

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad This DVD has both a version of Wind in the Willows (one of my favorite in children’s literature) and Sleepy Hollow. Both are definitely worth owning, and the vision of the Headless Horseman is enough to send almost everyone in the family hiding under the table.

Mind you, these ads are running in Singapore, not the US.

And I’m thinking it’s a good thing, too.  I totally get what they are going for, and I have to admire the out-of-the-box thinking that went into this.   But, I’m not sure I like it.

For your wannabe chainsaw massacarist. Is that even a word?

Let’s hope they want to become a butcher with this one.

Making pyromania into something almost cute.

Even as Play Doh, that looks dangerous.

Uh, these are just disturbing on any level.

(via Ugly Doggy)