What does an adult do with a lunch box?

That’s the question I faced when two shiny new metal boxes from Dark Horse Comics arrived at my house. Possible uses: purse, storage container, bookshelf display item.

I decided to try each out as a purse first, bringing to mind Sandra Bullock’s character in Hope Floats, who carried her stuff around in a silver construction worker's pail. When I ventured out into public, I thought, both boxes would have something to say to people in the know: One features the logo from the movie Serenity on one side and the title character, a Firefly spaceship named after the fictional Battle of Serenity Valley, embossed on the other. The other lunch box is more obscure, taking its design from the Fruity Oaty Bar commercial whose hidden code triggers the super-weapon training of River Tam, a key character and primary focus of the Serenity film.

Of the two designs, it’s difficult to choose a favorite. The logo lunch box is more conservative, with an almost too-simple design on front and back. The sides feature colorful examples of the bills that change hands in the Chinese- and U.S.-influenced economy of Serenity, where a galaxy of planets have been terraformed to support human life.

The second box has a more girl-friendly pink-and-yellow-stripes color scheme, with a particularly pretty sunburst design on one side. Both sides, one embossed, feature the three blue girls who sing the cutesy Fruity Oaty Bar song in the film. The blue is an odd contrast to the pink and yellow, but the overall look is bright and sassy, and would appeal to girls who’ve never even heard of Serenity.

And, judging from my forays into public with lunch box in hand, most people are indeed not familiar with Serenity, or else they kept their interest to themselves. As I went about my day, I thought of the lunch box that held my wallet, cell phone, and Carmex, and kept the corners of my eyes alert to any curious glances from nearby strangers.

I got some good-natured ribbing from the IHOP guy who rung up my bill (he asked me if I was heading off to work with my packed lunch), but no exclamation of “I love that movie!” or even a knowing glance. To be fair, I only took the lunch boxes out a few times. I also did not flaunt my unusual purse choice, feeling acutely self-aware as I rode the escalator up to a movie theater, ate at a restaurant or sat in a pew at church.

After using the boxes as totes (but not as actual lunch boxes, though they would easily fit my sandwich, bag of chips and nectarine, plus a paperback), I tried the Fruity Oaty Bar box as storage. It works great for smaller items you want to keep but that need to be stored rather than displayed: ticket stubs, greeting cards, photos, anything that can fit into an 8-by-7-by-3 3/4-inch container. The boxes also would be great for holding spools of ribbon or writing/coloring utensils, and other craft-related items.