A rocket-shaped stack of cheese and crackers could now launch your kid on a real-life space adventure.
Lunchables, the popular line of on-the-go meal and snack kits, is encouraging kids to play with their food through a new partnership with the oldest and largest toy store in the world, FAO Schwarz. With Lunchables' new "Lunchabuilds" kits, families now have the chance at an all-expenses-paid trip to one of three space camp experiences located across the United States.
"For years, kids have been dreaming, building and creating with Lunchables," Rachel Drof, marketing director at Kraft Heinz, said in a statement. "Like other traditional toys, Lunchables has fostered creativity and individuality by encouraging kids to use their imaginations while playing with and building with their food. Now, we're taking it one step further by giving kids the tools to build anything they can imagine out of Lunchables — like a rocket ship or a robot."
"With Lunchables, if you can build it, then you can eat it!" stated Drof.
Related: How to build a rocket in 3 easy steps
On Friday (Sept. 3), FAO Schwartz will offer through its online store the new Lunchabuilds Explorer Building Kit, which includes a Lunchables Turkey Cracker Stacker and the blueprints for kids to use the meal to build a rocket. The kit also includes an instant camera to capture kids' Lunchables rocket builds and a 3D puzzle.
What really makes the Lunchabuilds Explorer kit out of this world, though, is what also comes in the box.
The $100 space-centric kit comes with a real-life galactic experience valued at $1,000, plus an additional $1,000 to cover travel costs. Families (one parent and one child) can pick from attending Virginia Space Flight Academy on Wallops Island in Virginia, Camp Kennedy Space Center in Florida or Space Center Houston in Texas.
The Lunchabuilds Explorer Building Kit is limited to just 30 kits and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis exclusively through FAO Schwartz's website beginning at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday. The kits are limited to one per U.S. household.
Participants must be a parent of a child age 18 or under, complete release documents and will be responsible for federal, state and local taxes (equal to the total value of the experience and goods, less the amount paid). Further terms and conditions can be found on the FAO Schwarz website.
In celebration of the new Lunchabuilds kits and its new brand platform, "Built to be Eaten," Lunchables is taking over New York City's historic FAO Schwarz store in September with larger-than-life Lunchables creations, including a 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) Cracker Stacker rocket ship and a Pepperoni Pizza UFO.
In addition to the Explorer kit, Lunchables and FAO Schwartz are also offering Lunchabuilds Architect and Lunchabuilds Biologist building kits. Like the Explorer kit, the Architect and Biologist kits are limited to 30 kits each, cost $100 each and come with a Lunchables meal, the blueprints to build a related model, a camera and 3D puzzle.
The Architect kit includes a trip to an architectural wonder in the U.S., either the Empire State Building in New York City, the Space Needle in Seattle or the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, The Biologist kit includes trip to a top zoo in the U.S., either the San Diego Zoo in California, the Bronx Zoo in New York or the Omaha Zoo in Nebraska.
Robert Pearlman is a Space.com contributing writer and the editor of collectSPACE.com, a Space.com partner site and the leading space history news publication. Follow collectSPACE on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook.
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