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Like many older Americans, I have dietary restrictions which keep me from having many child-friendly foods in the house. This is further narrowed by their parents' allergies. However, I have found that one can get grandchildren to eat almost anything by packaging it correctly e.g. sandwiches in unfamilar shapes, mug soups where they choose their own add-ins, bento boxes, tiffins, mason jars . . . all of which made me wonder do any of you know cookbooks similar to the mason jar, and bento box cookbooks using other "carriers" that would entice children to eat the contents?

You might want to take a look at Everyday Bento: 50 Cute and Yummy Lunches to Go. It has good ideas for presentation of foods that (mostly) aren't too complicated. It's very much American-food oriented, not more traditional Japanese bento foods, but that worked for my son. When he was in preschool, I used ideas from this all the time - 30 seconds with some edible ink markers can persuade kids to eat something they might not otherwise try. Things like how to shape cheese into Lego shapes to make it more exciting were big hits. He also loved the robot-shaped hotdogs (built with toothpicks) and the octopus hotdogs. This book also introduced me to egg molds, which are awesome if you have kids who will/can eat eggs. You put a warm hard-boiled egg in the mold - there are lots of cute shapes - and then they hold the shape when cooled. 

I would just caution anyone about the use of toothpicks for young children.

Barb_N is absolutely right about toothpicks and being very cautious with them! We did that when he was older or when we were there supervising, and never left sharp points (now that I think back - how quickly you forget!). The book suggests a number of small bento accessories that should only be used with older kids, but there are plenty of other ideas that are safe for younger kids.