McDonals Happy Meal Question

[alexsmommy]

If I truly try not to take my child to McDonalds very often - in fact almost never b/c I know that is DH's fall back position if he is out with the kids during lunch time without me....how is it that it seems 50% of the cr*p I am finding taking up the bottom of all the toy storage bins now filling garbage bags are the pointless, break-in-one-minute toys from Happy Meals??????

[kedss]

we have a couple of boxes of them, someday they will disappear and not be missed!(hopefully before DD starts eating happy meals)

[hellokitty]

We don't get happy meals if we get fast food. I just get a regular adult meal and the kids split it. It's cheaper and I don't have to deal with the crappy toys.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have a weakness for Chik Fil A and love 95% of the stuff they give in their kids' meals. We have books, cds, and other less crappy toys.

Beth

[g-mama]

Boxes of them? Man, those toys hit the trash so fast in our house....my kids are amazed if they can still find their toy the next day!

[Tinkerbell313]

We do not buy the happy meal...its actually cheaper to buy the 4 piece mcnugget, small fry/apples and small drink off the doller menu.

[Corie]

I have a weakness for Chik Fil A and love 95% of the stuff they give in their kids' meals. We have books, cds, and other less crappy toys.

Beth



We love Chick Fil-A and their kids meal "toys".

Too bad the closest one is now an hour away!!

[kransden]

Don't throw them in the trash, give them to Goodwill. If they are unopened donate them to a homeless shelter, school etc. The kids love them as prizes.

[BabyMine]

Chik-fil-A and Arby's are my favs.

[kayte]

When left in dark place, unattended, they multiply on their own.

My sister -who has three kids--who MUST have every fast food toy (they will go to different drive thrus for the same meal) fills trash bag after trash bag every few months (which she donates..???..). Even if they ate there every day there wouldn't be that many. I am completely convinced they multiply.

[Corie]

Don't throw them in the trash, give them to Goodwill. If they are unopened donate them to a homeless shelter, school etc. The kids love them as prizes.

When I lived in Dallas, I used to donate them to my church. They put together
shoeboxes with all sorts of stuff inside and they were given out to needy kids.
The church ladies loving getting all our kids meal toys. I even told my playgroup,
neighborhood moms, etc.. Everyone knew to dump them at my home and
I would take them to the church.

Now that I am in Rhode Island, I can't find anyone to take the unopened
kids meal toys and I have called around to many people/places.

[alexsmommy]

Don't throw them in the trash, give them to Goodwill. If they are unopened donate them to a homeless shelter, school etc. The kids love them as prizes.

Believe me, if they weren't broken they'd be going in one of the donate boxes. Seriously, I think they multiply at night.

[ccather]

I love that chick-fil-a lets you trade the kids "toy" for ice cream. Even if we don't do that, they do a lot of books and things which are nicer to have than the little junky plastic things. Those i can recycle when we're done with them instead of making me feel bad for chucking the plastic in the trash.

[DrSally]

I usually get the 4 piece mcnuggets (with honey sauce of course) and apple dippers. DS doesn't like milk, so I just have a sippy of water for him. I don't need those toys, they're choking hazards. Unless it was something like a wonder pet animal, but they usually seem like "older" toys.

[Corie]

I usually get the 4 piece mcnuggets (with honey sauce of course) and apple dippers. DS doesn't like milk, so I just have a sippy of water for him. I don't need those toys, they're choking hazards. Unless it was something like a wonder pet animal, but they usually seem like "older" toys.


You can ask for a special toy for children under 3. :)

[DrSally]

You can ask for a special toy for children under 3. :)

I did not know that. Can you look up online to see what the current toy is?

[Octobermommy]

I love that chick-fil-a lets you trade the kids "toy" for ice cream. Even if we don't do that, they do a lot of books and things which are nicer to have than the little junky plastic things. Those i can recycle when we're done with them instead of making me feel bad for chucking the plastic in the trash.



I did not know that chick fil a would give an ice cream for a toy. I will have to ask next time.

[DietCokeLover]

You can ask for a special toy for children under 3. :)

I ask all the time, and McDonalds never has the toys for under 3. I much prefer Chic Fil A. They are always very conscientious to make sure the child has the right age toy/ book.

[missym]

We don't eat at McD's very often, and I almost never let the girls get the Happy Meal because I'm cheap and a Mean Mommy. So we went to Gwen's school carnival the other day and guess what probably 20% of the prizes were? Happy Meal toys!! :irked: They must have gotten McDonalds to donate all the leftovers. The girls were thrilled and picked those as prizes almost every time.

[Jen841]

J's K teacher asks for the toys for their treat bin for the class. I happily donate them.

At Chick-fil-A you can turn in your unopened toy for a serving of ice cream.

We don't always get the toys, and if we do they go right to the treat box. Maybe there is a school you could dontate them to that could use them for appropriate prizes.

[SnuggleBuggles]

That's good to know about the toy/ ice cream exchange at CFA. Sometimes ds is just not at all into the toy in the meal- and ds2 could care less about getting one. I will keep this in mind.

Wendy's partners with Little Tikes for the under 3 toy (or they used to?) and they are pretty decent.

Beth

[Corie]

I did not know that. Can you look up online to see what the current toy is?


Unfortunately, no. And sometimes, the McDonalds doesn't have any.
It's frustrating if you have a little one.

[Melaine]

I love that chick-fil-a lets you trade the kids "toy" for ice cream. Even if we don't do that, they do a lot of books and things which are nicer to have than the little junky plastic things. Those i can recycle when we're done with them instead of making me feel bad for chucking the plastic in the trash.

:yeahthat:

We don't really do fast food for the girls typically, but I often order the chikfila kids meal myself. I order a wheat bun (15 cent), make a little sandwich for myself, trade the toy in for ice cream and figure that is portion control for me and a little cheaper.

[sidmand]

I've been saving them up in a big bin (didn't know until about a year in that I could ask for the toddler toy and at the time DS was too little for most of the toys) and figured I would pull them out on an airplane ride to use as new "toys" that I didn't mind if they got left behind.

I do like Wendy's toddler toys better. McD are almost always involving Ronald McDonald somehow!

I also used them as prizes if DS stayed in his big boy bed until 7:30 a.m. There are a few he became attached to, but most he didn't care if they suddenly disappeared!

Some of them aren't horrible quality. Some are. But DS had a little pirate boat he loved and carried everywhere for awhile. I think it got lost rather than broken...and then we got another by accident.

And FWIW, I've seen lots and lots of them at Savers (in RI/MA). It's basically a thrift store.

[Veronica's Mommy]

I have a standing lunch playdate with my mom once a week when she watches my sister's kids (3 & 5), so I have a bit of experience with Happy Meals LOL. We either play there, or drive through & go to a park.
I never have a problem with breakage. Of course if it looks like junk or something DD won't like, we just don't go there or we order something else. We have mixed success w/ the toddler toy. The one by my house usually has them, but the selection is limited. I will often ask before I order, if I really want one. Definitley if I am at a different restaurant. Subway for example, NEVER has them, which is a shame because they always have the sign up advertising their animal Mega Bloks & DD loves MBs.
What bugs me are duplicates. I am pretty good at making sure that I never wind up with any (and if I do, they usually stay in the wrapper until I can find someone to give them to), but my sister... her house is crawling with HM toys, usually 2 (or more!) of everything. My mom always opens the toys up, even if it's something they already have. And yeah, they usually collect dust unless they are cars or something. Drives me crazy. DD always plays with hers.

[DrSally]

Everyone loved Chick-filet. We don't have one by us, but even if we did, I think they aren't safe for those with peanut allergies :(

[katydid1971]

OK I don't live anywhere near a chick fil a and after hearing how much you all love it I'm totally jelous. I have to agree with pp that hm toys somehow multiply. I swear I'll have tossed some useless kung fu panda or other useless toy and it'll show up again. I do have to say I love it when they have cars because those are played with. DH has been playing with some video game ds got in his hm recently.

[tarynsmum]

We like Chik Fil a's too - last time we were there we had to wait in line for a long time and the lady at the counter gave DD one of those stuffed cows - it's her favorite thing EVER - "super cow" (because he's wearing the "eat chicken" sign and it looks like a cape?) is a staple in our house.

[kransden]

BTW, if you get duplicates or something "more" junky than usual, if they are unopened. McDonalds will trade them.

[shoremom]

:yeahthat::bighand:Don't throw them in the trash, give them to Goodwill. If they are unopened donate them to a homeless shelter, school etc. The kids love them as prizes.

[Nooknookmom]

I used to think the same thing, although I was the one buying the happy meals. The cool thing now is when I go through my older DD's packed away "little kid stuff" and I run across an old happy meal toy.

Brings back a cute memory of when she was tiny and HAD to have a "hambooger, chup-chup only". :)

[JTsMom]

I can't stand any type of fast food except Chick Fil A. They have ruined me for all others. LOL I think it's a requirement when you move here to swear allegiance to CFA. And I agree that a kid's meal is plenty of food for an adult. The 2 piece chicken strips is more than enough for me, especially if I get an ice cream with it.

[Bethann31]

I can't stand any type of fast food except Chick Fil A. They have ruined me for all others. LOL I think it's a requirement when you move here to swear allegiance to CFA. And I agree that a kid's meal is plenty of food for an adult. The 2 piece chicken strips is more than enough for me, especially if I get an ice cream with it.


Really? The joke among my friends and I is that our families go to Chick Fil A, spend $50 or so on food, then an hour later have to go and eat. I don't find the food filling at all, so I ALWAYS overeat. But then, I'm not a big fan of the plain chicken sandwich. To each his own I guess, around here, CFA is definitely king.

[Corie]

Everyone loved Chick-filet. We don't have one by us, but even if we did, I think they aren't safe for those with peanut allergies :(


Are you saying it's not safe because they use peanut oil to cook their food?

It's funny because my allergist and my son's pediatric allergist said that
it was okay to eat at Chick Fil-A. They both said that the oil got hot enough
to kill off the peanut proteins. I used to have documentation explaining
the process but I threw it away when we moved from Texas.
(FWIW, both my son and I are allergic to peanuts and other nuts, etc.)

There are no Chick Fil-As near us. The closest is about an hour away.

Neither myself or my son ever had a reaction from eating at Chick-Fil-A.