Better Me, Better Together: Bento Making with Oreo

 The SoMoms recently had another Better Me session and this time around we learned how to make meal time exciting for our little ones through a one-day workshop that’s all about Bento Making. I couldn’t think of better way to incorporate fun than to have Oreo as our sponsor during the SoMoms X Oreo Bento Together Workshop with The Bento Mommas.

Just like any other form of art, bento making needs effort and tools that one must have in order to create a fun and cute food box for the little one. Don’t worry, practice makes perfect and its really easy to create a bento. Surprisingly, even my 4 year old Gabbie learned immediately 😉

 The bento workshop was facilitated by no less than the pioneer in bento making here in Manila, The Bento Mommas. While the workshop is for us mommas, we were encouraged to bring our little ones for them to see how fun and challenging creating a meal box is. My lil’ Ms. GJG was more than excited to create her bento box and she was even eager to do it on her own.

One of the things we learned is how to shape rice. Depending on the character or thing you want to create, use a plastic bag (food grade) or zip lock to mold it.

Can you guess what we’re making?

Another key ingredient when creating a bento is seaweed. Use it to enhance details of a thing or character you’re making. Cut and shape it depending on what elements you need. Here’s lil’ Ms. GJG bringing her bear to life.

What a cutie pie!

My lil’ bento maker got tired and had some Oreo in between filling her bento box, so mommy had to help her finish.

After a few minutes of shaping & molding plus snacking in between, here’s our first ever mom-daugheter bento. 🙂

Cute bear with steamed broccoli & corn, fried chicken, checkered apple & Oreos.

 Lil’ Ms. GJG with seat mates Berry & Kailee.

Another cute bento in the making.

Meow.

After creating our first bento, we were then challenged by The Bento Mommas to unleash our creativity and make another bento based on what animal we picked. We had to create an animal-themed bento using Oreo and other bento elements and was given only 15 minutes. While I love that lil’ Ms. GJG really wanted to make everything herself, this didn’t give me enough time, choice and patience to do our bento the way I envisioned it.

So we compromised and here’s our Reindeer bento. Crushed Oreo (as what lil’ Ms. GJG wanted) as our base, layered with bread that was spread with Oreo strawberry filling, topped with another (chocolate) bread shaped as a reindeer and we used more Oreo fillings to create its face. We added a serving of grapes and mini chocolate candies.

Here are the other mom’s creations.

 My fellow Momma & owl lover Mish created a cute owl! Check her step by step tutorial on how to create an owl bento.

Tina of Phenomenal Mama won the animal-themed bento challenge and got herself an Everyday Bento book.

The Bento Mommas also sell bento paraphernalia, perfect for those who want to try their luck & hone their creative skills in bento-ing.

How kyoooot are these Cars, Sesame Street and Star Wars cutters? So kyoooot that I just had to get them!

While I don’t think I can fully commit to doing bento everyday, I would every now and then surprise lil’ Ms. GJG to a box of her favourite food.

 Hello Kitty cheese sandwich, Honey Star cereals, sliced apples and Oreos.

Sesame Street sandwiches, Pillows, grapes and Oreos.

I think I’m getting the hang of bento making. I might just take this to the next level and invest on bento tools and of course make time and effort to wake up extra early so I can prepare. 😉

Thank you Oreo and The Bento Mommas for a fun day of bento-ing. I learned a few tricks but most of all lil’ Ms. GJG & I had loads of fun creating our own bento. Better me, better together.

Oreo

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The Bento Mommas

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