The highlight of going back to school shopping when I was little was looking for, and buying a new lunchbox! You know, when just about everyone took their lunches to school.

The award for the most popular lunchbox of all time goes to the Disney School Bus, a domed metal box. Some 6 million of them were sold between 1961 and 1973, according to a book called "Lunchbox: Inside and Out" by Jack Mingo and Erin Bennett.

  • The first lunchbox aimed at children hit the market in 1902. It was shaped like a picnic basket and featured pictures of children playing.
  • The industry started to hit the big time in 1950 when an executive at the Aladdin company slapped some decals of popular TV cowboy Hopalong Cassidy on old lunchboxes. Some 600,000 sold within a year.
  • Dr. Suess was one of the few celebrities who was allowed to design his own lunchbox.
  • Metal lunchboxes were popular until 1987 when parents' groups started complaining they could be used as weapons.

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