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Lunch boxes aren't just for lunch anymore.

Starlets Drew Barrymore, Parker Posey and Toni Collette have been caught on film clutching metal lunch pails as purses and carryalls. Actually they're the perfect size for a wallet, a compact and a bologna sandwich. It's also a fond trip down memory lane for these twentysomethings who actually used to carry these '90s collectibles to school every day.

But it's not a cheap trip. Original lunch pails emblazoned with '70s cartoons, TV series and movies run anywhere from $25 to $110. Brian Christ, a sales associate at Big Fun -- a pop culture supermarket in Cleveland Heights -- says the most pricey boxes he's heard of recently were a $1,500, 1956 mint-condition Superman box; a Jetsons box for $2,000, and a domed Lost in Space pail for $450. "If I had the money at the time to blow on a lunch box ... that would be it," he says.

If you're going to collect or carry them, remember, the cheesier the better: Charlie's Angels, Flying Nun and Speed Buggy are good. If you want cash, find classic ones. Christ doesn't expect today's plastic lunch boxes to catch on anytime soon with collectors. "Vinyl will be more popular," he says.

"Those will go first. I haven't really seen one that can hold up to the metal ones in terms of art."

Look for lunch boxes in attics and thrift stores, at garage sales and chain stores such as Uncle Fun, Sister Fun or Big Fun's Ohio Headquarters at 1827 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118; phone 371-4386.

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