Thermos is inalterably linked with school lunches, even from way back, when I proudly owned a lunchbox set that came with a Thermos like this vintage Snoopy model.
Thermos keeps up with pop culture and they have a number of specialty lunchboxes and bottles of particular interest to geeks for this year’s back to school season. I tested out two sets this summer: Superman, based on the Man of Steel movie, with the image of Henry Cavill’s Superman occupying the lunchbox, while the “S” (stands for hope) symbol is on the Man of Steel FunTainer bottle and food jar; and Spider-Man, featuring iconic images of the wall-crawler.
Sorry, Superman, apparently Marvel even wins the lunchbox fight, at least in this house, as Spider-Man was the preferred choice. However, the S symbol containers were deemed cool, so maybe it was Cavill that’s the issue. Other superheroes adorning Thermos’ bottles and lunchboxes include Batman, Green Lantern, the Avengers, Iron Man, and R2-D2 (which comes with sound!). Alas, no Black Widow and I only found one Wonder Woman Thermos, a model designed more for adults than children.
However, If you need Hello Kitty or Barbie, then you’re in luck.
The Thermos bottles and food jars keep the cold beverages reasonably cold, especially if they’re chilled first, and hot food mostly hot, at least through lunchtime. They’re also sturdy, as we’ve been using a non-geeked-up Thermos bottle for several years without any appreciable damage. The pop-open button provides quick access to the beverage inside without the danger of spilling.
Well, it eliminates spills if you read the directions before using.
I skipped the directions and missed the warning about putting carbonated beverages in these bottles.
What should have been self-evident–that a sealed container with only one opening would forcibly eject carbonated liquid when re-opened–was something I only realized after the fact.
My bad.
At least I was able to give a quick science lesson while cleaning up the mess. And it prompted discussion of a possible follow-up science experiment to see if the carbonated liquid would travel further if shaken up just beforehand.
An experiment we’re going to save for outdoors.
