# What lunch box did you take to school as a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141 "2013-02-02T19:55:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ASanders](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asanders/32/3367_2.png) [@ASanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASanders)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/41 "2013-02-03T03:26:10Z")
> [@ASanders](#): > > Partridge Family, to feed into my David Cassidy obsession. I still have it; for some reason my mother kept that over all my other childhood detritus. To clarify: I still have the lunchbox, not the obsession. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/42 "2013-02-03T03:28:39Z")
I’m about the same age as WhyNot and she is right about what sorts of lunchboxes all the other girls had. Not me, though. 5 year old BetsQ had the same Space: 1999 lunchbox as Accidental Martyr. (Good job, Mom, for letting me choose my own thing.) I had one other metal lunchbox, but don’t remember what was on it. I took a brown bag from about third grade on. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/43 "2013-02-03T03:33:30Z")
Back before I started buying my lunch, I carried a Sesame Street lunch box. 🙂 🙂 🙂 God bless you always!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Holly ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/44 "2013-02-03T03:59:18Z")
Either I or my brother had a plastic Muppet Show lunchbox. I can’t remember what the other one was. Happy Days, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/45 "2013-02-03T04:06:59Z")
I once had a wonderful _Yellow Submarine_ lunchbox. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/46 "2013-02-03T04:30:17Z")
I carried lunch boxes in the 70’s. Most were TV show themed: Little House on the Prairie The Waltons Grizzly Adams Also, Holly Hobby, which wasn’t a tv show… There were probably a couple more. I think we got a new one every year, as a back to school thing. I stopped using one after elementary school. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/47 "2013-02-03T04:46:42Z")
I had [The Bionic Woman](http://images1.fanpop.com/images/photos/2500000/The-Bionic-Woman-Vintage-1978-Lunch-Box-lunch-boxes-2585762-800-529.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/48 "2013-02-03T05:01:48Z")
I’m embarrassed to say, but apparently not too embarrassed to admit that I had a Partridge Family lunchbox in the early '70s when the show was hot. Perhaps my mom’s rationale was “A little ridicule by his peers will give him a backbone”. I did have a little crush on Laurie for a while there, so I can’t blame my mom too much. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/49 "2013-02-03T05:11:14Z")
Happy Days lunchbox. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/50 "2013-02-03T05:38:18Z")
[Brave](http://auctionimages.s3.amazonaws.com/28464/14097/4992311_30W179E9P.jpg) [Eagle.](http://www.greatestcollectibles.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1957-Brave-Eagle.jpg) Based on the[1955-56 TV show.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_Eagle) Boy, I really loved that lunch box. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/51 "2013-02-03T05:38:44Z")
As mentioned, I also had a Happy Days and Holly Hobby lunch box. One I haven’t seen yet that was my favorite was my Scooby Doo! Loved it!! ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/52 "2013-02-03T06:29:16Z")
E.T metal ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/53 "2013-02-03T06:56:24Z")
> [@For You](#): > > One day at lunch, one kid asked, “Why do you always eat you lunch on homemade bread?” I could tell, sneer notwithstanding, that he was jealous. My lunch always had homemade cookies in it. My friend Mark’s lunch always had a little bag of Fritos. We traded those items almost daily, and I’m pretty sure we both thought we were getting the best of the deal. My mom never bought chips, and his mom never baked cookies, so naturally we each thought the other’s “dessert” was better. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/54 "2013-02-03T07:27:44Z")
[Walt Disney World](http://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/5843616/il_fullxfull.272977244.jpg). I remember I had to use a paper clip to keep it from opening up and spilling my lunch all over the hallway. After that one rusted out I had the red plaid box. My brother had the [Disney School Bus](http://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/6614842/il_fullxfull.293289988.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/55 "2013-02-03T08:12:53Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Oh…god. > > The worst. The absolute worst. My mother hated me. Everyone had Strawberry Shortcake or Care Bears or Transformers. The coolest kids had brown paper bags with grease stains on the side. Not me. Nope. I was the loser. > > Yep. The [Tupperware Lunch Box](http://www.flickr.com/photos/vintagegoodness/3048918107/). They called it “red”, but it was freaking 1970s Ugly Ass Orange. > > Excuse me, I need to go crawl under the covers and rock myself to sleep now. Hey, you were ahead of the curve, you had yourself an American [bento](http://www.laptoplunches.com/) box! Now, the color choice was rather…unfortunate, but the 70s had its own unique palette. Also, your mom probably didn’t spend time to elaborately arrange the lunch ingredients into cute [shapes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kyaraben_panda.jpg). It’s rather odd. I know that I had at least one lunchbox with a thermos, because I remember that I was expected to rinse that thermos out promptly when I got home from school each day. But I can’t remember what sort of lunchbox I had. I seem to remember that the thermos was a rather generic one, not one with a character on it. I know that I frequently bought the school lunches, as my mother believed that a hot lunch was more nutritious than a cold one, and she also believed that the school lunches were cheaper than an equivalent meal prepared at home. I remember reading the menus printed in the paper, and deciding which lunches I’d buy, and which days I’d take my lunch, so I’d think that I’d remember the lunchbox. Nope. I really don’t. I know that I occasionally took a bagged lunch, though. When I started high school, I always ate either the school lunch, or I ate off campus. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/56 "2013-02-03T09:18:29Z")
Paper bag only. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/57 "2013-02-03T09:41:50Z")
A plain green lunch box with matching thermos. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/58 "2013-02-03T09:55:47Z")
Mostly I used paper sacks, but one year I did have a lunchbox–a Donny and Marie just like [this one.](https://www.proxibid.com/asp/LotDetail.asp?ahid=1549&aid=61563&lid=15432797) ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/59 "2013-02-03T10:16:58Z")
Empty bread bag. Any fancy lunch box would have been lost on the first day I took it to school. I was a pretty forgetful child. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141/60 "2013-02-03T12:18:46Z")
I first had the [mailbox](http://heelswheelsandmeals.blogspot.com/2010/08/pb-4-ever.html), then the [metric system](http://www.flickriver.com/photos/27032987@N02/2971506572/). Yes, I was a dork. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lunch-box-did-you-take-to-school-as-a-kid/649141.md?page=4)