This New SpaghettiOs Collab Is Perfect For Back-To-School

It’s back-to-school season! And with that, the summer of 2026 for everyone in the Northern Hemisphere draws to a close. Hope you had a good time. Now it’s back to doing the school run, making sure your kids have their lunchboxes when you pick them up, cajoling them into doing homework, and trying to rouse them from bed early in the morning for those first few weeks. Joy of joys (I don’t have kids, but this time of year reminds me of my younger days, when I was a nanny – and the lunchbox thing was big. Those kids NEVER had them. But I digress).

Videos by Sporked

You might be able to alleviate any back-to-school grouchiness for a brief spell this year, though, thanks to SpaghettiOs. The canned food brand has just announced a new collab that’ll make after-school snacking a little more fun. 

SpaghettiOs x SpongeBob SquarePants

Last week, @markie_devo announced that SpaghettiOs and SpongeBob SquarePants have teamed up on a new range of canned pasta with meatballs. There are four cans to choose from, each with SpongeBob characters on the front – and inside, too. Depending on which can you pick, your macaroni will be in the shape of SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, or Gary the Snail. The meatballs, we presume, are shaped like meatballs. 

This collaboration is the latest in a line of SpongeBob x food items team-ups this year, with SpongeBob instant ramen and SpongeBob Krispy Kremes arriving in Spring. We also saw a SpongeBob and Kraft team-up a few years ago, so the cartoon brand has previous experience in turning itself into pasta. Never underestimate the power of an anthropomorphic sponge to shift some units.

The Parental Verdict

The announcement of these new SpongeBob SpaghettiOs has been greeted partly with pleasure, partly with frustration. In @markie_devo’s comment section, some parents have said that they’re big fans of the collab, while others are clearly annoyed. “CAN I PLEASE GET SHAPES WITHOUT MEATBALLS ARENT THESE SUPPOSED TO BE FOR PICKY KIDS PLEASE WTF,” said one especially annoyed would-be customer (as in, would-be if there weren’t any meatballs), while others said that SpaghettiOs and SpongeBob should have expanded the range here, to incorporate all the other characters in the SquarePants universe. In an ideal world, yes – but four isn’t bad!

Anyway, if you think your kids will enjoy these (or if you suspect you will, too), you can find them at Walmart. They’re not exclusive to the store, though, so keep an eye on the SpaghettiOs shelf wherever you shop.