Lunch Punch Animal Shape Sandwich Cutters (Set of 4)

***quick cut review***The LPASSC(Lunch Punch Animal Shape Sandwich cutters) make very cute shapes and generate more fun for both the sandwich maker as well as the eater(s).however, the material used is not as tough as some of the stronger plastic(s) out there and certain shapes do not cut through as easily.(update 11/15/2012)Our kids have outgrown these so we gave it away to a couple that has young kids. The owner of the company is planning on stainless steel ones. She DOES listen to her customers. We wish her the best in 2013 with her new line of products including the stainless steel ones! :-D~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***shapely review***1) FUNabilityto me, this was the most important factor when my wife and I decided to purchase this product. We have two kids (5yo & 6yo) and the quotidian and banal bag lunches were beginning to drag them down as well for us sandwich makers.I surprised them and didn't tell them and when they got home from school, they talked about how delicious their sandwiches were (it is the SAME PB&J, but it just TASTED so much better)!!it has lit a fire back into their boring packed lunches and they actually have offered to make the sandwiches themselves.They have a new found love for their bagged lunches and THAT, alone, was worth the purchasing price...2) Durability and CLEANabilitywith that said, for $15.00, I wish that the maker would've used better material(s) for the cutter.The sharp edges are very thin and the plastic is the type that can create that "white" crease if one was to push down with too much pressure. This is a big deal because the white crease is the weaker part and with each use, it'll become weaker and weaker and will eventually break off.one of my kids pressed down a bit hard because she had a hard time getting the "puppy" to go through and two white creases were formed. (this is after the third use...)I cannot attest to if it is dishwasher safe if one likes to use the "heat" and "hot" cycle on their dishwasher. I am sure that the plastic will probably warp if they were washed in the "hot" and "heat" cycle. To be fair, I have NOT used the heat cycle and don't think I will due to the general issues of using plastic with heat.(update: 4-21-2011 the Proprietor of the company and I have been corresponding and she is willing to send out independent testing on the material for its safety in heat. Her email is [email protected] and our correspondence is in the comment section of this post. Please feel free to email her. :-)I have used the "quick" wash setting for these and they seemed fine but the quick wash does not get the peanut butter out all the way.I have found that hand washing these are the quickest and easiest way and it is actually NOT a hassle.3) CUTabilityOf the four molds (Butterfly, twin fish, puppy in dog house, and elephant and calf), the butterfly is the easiest to use. It cuts through the breads easily. The twin fish is a bit harder but still not too bad, the puppy in dog house and the elephant and calf are the hardest ones of the bunch. They require more adroitness and more dexterity. And at times, the breads get squished a bit and some bits are either pressed down or would fall off. (But that doesn't affect the kids, they like it anyways)And I don't mean HARD as in that it is HARD labor. It is harder to cut THROUGH(the bread) with the puppy and the elephant but it is still "EASY" because all we do is press it down on bread. LOLThese molds also require BIGGER breads. We buy our breads when breads are on sale so we do not buy a particular brand although we try to stick to whole grains or whole wheat.The height of these cutters are about 3-7/8" and the width are about 3-3/4". And the bread one use should be slightly bigger than those dimensions.Those short stack Italian breads do not work well with these cutters.White breads are easier to cut through than the whole grains (the 7 grains have given us the most trouble).Now, don't get me wrong, when I say more effort, I don't mean that one has to use Herculean strength or having to lift a thousand lbs. It just takes a bit more "wiggling" of the wrists(and sometimes, HIPS) to loosen the bread. It still is a very quick process when all things considered.I would suggest not using a lot of force as the cutting edges can bend and if one was to let their kids do it, to show them to NOT to push down too hard.~~~~~~~~~~~~I would recommend this product to all parents that are that trying to find a new way to re-lit some enthusiasm in their kids bagged lunches.Listening to the kids' highly anticipated query when they ask, "mommy and daddy, what animals lunches are we getting tomorrow?" with the sparkles in their eyes, is well worth all the $15.00's, the hip and wrists wiggling, and even arthritis just to see those bright (sometimes toothless) smiles again, and again, and again...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~update: 4/21/2011Ms. Kiersten,the proprietor of Lunch Punch, has really impressed us with her dedication to the product as well as being willing to listen and open to future improvements.The customer service that she brings to the Lunch Punch Product is top notch.We are now changing our rating of the Lunch Punch from 4 stars to 5 Star. A product is only as good as the people that create(s) it. And the Lunch Punch Company is tops...in our book. And it looks like they will always try to make improvements and innovation with their products.

Not super obvious unless you look hard. Cute touch though!

My just 6-year-old daughter and my 7-year-old son stopped eating sandwiches for a while and it was becoming more and more difficult to find protein that they would eat--especially for my son.So when I saw these sandwich shapes, I thought I would win them over with cuteness. So far, so good. My daughter loves the butterfly and the elephants. My son likes the elephants and especially the dolphins. Now they are asking for other animals (cat and squid in particular). (Note that the elephants--and only the elephants--come with an interim "cut" which provides some definition for the shape and is not intended to be a full cut--so don't press down too hard.)These are fairly easy to use but not extremely fast. The shape needs a good deal of pressure and twisting back and forth, and even still, I turn over the sandwich and press the bread into the cutting areas. At least for the bread we use (whole wheat), my kids would have a tough time doing this well.The sandwich eventually pops out pretty neatly. I'll upload some photos. The shapes come out great in the dishwasher.Definitely wash the shapes out before they are used. The container they come in fits them nicely and compactly for storage, but it's a bit of a pain to get them in there neatly. I'll probably stop using it and just throw them in a drawer if I can find the space.More shapes, please!

My girls thought these were a lot of fun, but I find them a little hard to use. The elephant's trunk get's stuck in the punch sometimes. Toasting the bread before I make the sandwich has helped with this, but that also makes the sandwich a little harder to "punch." Also, if you add a lot of veggies (cucumbers and lettuce come to mind), they have a tendency to slide around, but I still love the cutters and am glad I purchased them. They make everything from sandwiches to toast more fun. They are a great size and really just cut the crust off the bread. I was impressed there wasn't much waste.

I love these in theory. They are super cute and really do make the sandwiches more fun! They are plenty durable and can go in the dishwasher. My only issue with them is that they are very small. I bought a similar product at the grocery store (that are not nearly as cute; just dual dinosaurs and a heart cutout)that do a much better job of using the whole bread. Once these do the cut outs, the about 1/4 to almost 1/2 of the sandwich is gone depending on bread size. I haven't yet found a healthy bread small enough to minimize this waste.

I got these along with some lunch containers for Back to School. Made them for the kids' lunch sandwiches for the first day school and they were a huge hit! Only tried them with grilled cheese sandwiches so far, but found them easy to use and fairly easy to clean. The dog one is going to be harder to clean, but I plan to put it in the dishwasher on the top rack. The dolphins and butterfly I have been hand-washing. Also found that with the bread we use there is very little wasted bread, and what is cut off, I just leave on the plate and they eat that part too. I am so excited to be able to make lunch fun and exciting and special!

My daughter (5) loves these sandwich cutters. They're a little tough to use, and don't cut through the sandwich really well, but it's worth it to see how excited my daughter gets. I use "Nature's Own" bread, and it uses most of the bread and just cuts off the crusts. I wouldn't recommend this for the wide-loaves because it would waste a lot of bread, but it works great for regular-sized loaves.

This sandwich punch is very good quality. The designs are intricate and my daughter loves her special sandwiches! I don't think I buy weird bread or anything, but they don't seem to fit the bread I buy very well. This results in a small portion of crust infiltrating the design and unnecessary wasted bread on the sides. Additionally, my 7 year old has difficulty using the elephant and dog punches independently.

I do like these but you have to manipulate the sandwich to get it to cut,but it does cut clean and clear, I would recommend this product

These are great, but I make sandwiches with a lot of contents inside and these seem like they are made for thinner sandwiches... much more difficult for me to make a clean cut without squishing them too much. Also, I use the biggest natural gluten free bread I can find, but it still isn't tall enough for the cutters so there is still bits of crust left. If you make thin sandwiches out of conventional loaves of bread then these would be awesome for you!

Cute cutters for sandwiches

Great product. Cute shapes!

Fast shipping, great product!!