The Sad History of McDonald's Happy Meal 

Those toys from the late 80s early 90s were actually pretty good

"It was a total attack against kids!" As a kid who saw Batman Returns in theaters on his 9th birthday, Danny Slaski was a plant and was trained to say those horrible lies.

We’ve kept most of the toys my kids got by turning them into Christmas Ornaments. Just hot glued an ornament hook on it and after a decade, they had a ton. My wife also kept them as gifts for her pediatric patients at her clinic.

"Alien could be a true story"?? What, what? Go back to that guy!

I'm a senior, and the Happy Meal is just the right size for me. The toys go to a friend of mine's kids.

we were too poor to afford happy meals. going out to McD's was a treat. usually mom would order a couple of the large orange drinks and large fries and the free courtesy cups which were divvied up among up while we each got the basic hamburger or cheeseburger. a treat would be those McD coupon books from the late 80's to the early or mid 90's which gave you sundaes, pies or cookies. i do remember those nintendo and back to the future toys that our more affluent friends could afford.

One memory i will never forget is being 9 and after a movie with my dad we stopped off at McDonald's. At the time they had the "making movies" promotion and i got the megaphone. Going home dad saw a young couple smooching heavily on the sidewalk .Dad rolled down the window and being silly uses the megaphone telling them to knock it off and they jumped 😂 they then laughed we chuckled about that night alot

I remember the beanie babies fad. My uncle collected a bunch of the rare ones at the time. They aren't worthless, as people do still collect them, but they're also not worth as much as people once thought. As for him, we only tease him a little over it.

Love your videos. Everything appears completely normal until the clip of the Dad explaining why it was OK to take his kid to see Alien. ‘He needs to see it because things like this might happen’.

I actually remember when these came out. We were so excited! My mom bought them for us one time. She never bought them again because it wasn’t enough food and we were still hungry. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Alright - Who else noticed the subtle quiet "MY LEG" at 13:41 That shout is officially our new 'Wilhelm Scream'

Happy Meals seem to have a rather unexpectedly devastating history behind it. I grew up receiving fast food toys. They're not typically the best quality but I've got some good memories with it.

My mom worked at McDonald's during the beanie baby craze, she brought me home all the ones in the display cases once they sold out.

The biggest promotion I loved was the McBoo pails. I LOVED them. When they came out last year, I bought my first happy meal in 30 years lol.

We didn't have the most money when my son was growing up in the 90's. As a toddler and preschooler, around 90% of his toybox was Happy Meal toys.

Imagine a world where managers stuck up for their employees and said "you're asking them to do too much" ...without extra pay. Those franchise owners are unsung heroes

One ticket back to the 90s please 🥤

I remember a collection of happy meal toys McDonald's realeased here in Brazil in the early 2000s when I was a kid. There were 4 plushies themed after animals of our local fauna. Everybody LOVED it, it was a very successful campaign. The plushies had very good quality, and they weren't small, they were regular sized and didn't even fit inside the happy meal box. We will never have something this good again, toys nowadays are trash (Edit: typo)

The "Food Changeables" were and remain one of the G.O.A.T Happy Meal toys

I have a strange happy meal trauma. As a wee kid I got invited to a friends birthday party, we were going to the movies (care bears or something, can't remember) and then to McDonalds! I had never been to McDonalds before then, and the hype surrounding it got me quite exited. We got seated, 6 kids and one adult (birthday boy's mom) and she ordered 6 happy meals and something larger for herself. The waiter (yes, this was long ago) comes back with the sad news that they only had enough boxes and toys left for 5 happy meals. Mom does an eagle eye stare, scanning the 5 kids that weren't her son to eventually focus on me, shattering my expectations and excitement by saying 'Ow you wouldn't mind having just a burger menu would you?'.

the main takeaway is that alien could be a true story

Wow, the Hot Wheels/Barbie toys goes right back to the earliest days of the Happy Meal? That's awesome, those are iconic.

You left out the part where Burger Chef sued McDonald's over the Happy Meal. Claims that the "Funmeal" predated the Happy Meal. Burger Chef lost the court case.

As a kid i had that star trek meal. It blew my mind, and i held on to it forever

The Teeny Beanie Baby promotion was pretty disturbing. I think this was the dawn of the Karen. Mothers went into McDonald's, ordered Happy Meals and literally threw the food into the wastebasket, just to get the Beanies. I couldn't believe it. 🤦‍♀️

You didn’t mention the coveted Halloween pails throughout the decades and as recent as last year! Must be saving those for their own video.

Oh what memories of having a Happy Meal-obsessed kid! My son was born in 1989- and soon figured out the McD's toy collections in the H.M.s He knew that as long as we ate (very) healthy food the rest of the week, he would get the meals with the best toy collections. The food was secondary, but g.d. if he didn't get the whole collection. The week we got the Batman figure, he lost it before we made it home. He was heartbroken- so back we went, to get another Happy Meal and _the last batman figure they had!_ (I think they had to pull him from the display case😂) Although he has lost much more valuable items, he still has that Batman figure! Now you might think I was raising an entitled brat. But today, he is one of the kindest, well-mannered young men you could ever meet. He is the greatest blessing a mom could ask for. I think it's sad that the Happy Meal is no longer toy-based. Not all kids love McD's- but I've never known one that didn't love their little toys!❤

I love the Happy Meal! My kids when they were elementary aged loved them too! They are young adults now but sometimes they would get a Happy Meal as a snack. We always have a choice between chicken nugs or burger. We also have choice between boy or girl toy. And we could get milk, apple juice or water. If we wanted soda there’s no charge to get soda instead. There is an up charge to get a shake. Sometimes I get a Happy Meal (as an adult) because it’s enough for me. As a kid I loved Happy Meals!!!

That kid saying Batman was too violent was the lamest kid to ever exist.

I found a tiny Sonic game while cleaning out my childhood room, thing had to be 20 years old. Still worked!! The sound is warped and the graphics aren't as clear but it still works!

8:04 the food changeables in my opinion were some of the best happy meal toys to ever come out of any fast food place ❤

Surprised you didn't mention the 2021 Pokémon scandal when scalpers were going into McDonald's to ask for 100 Happy Meals before kids could get a chance to collect them. Man that was a dark time for Pokémon.

Sometimes my mom liked getting the toys just as much as my brother and I did, especially the holiday ones. The Halloween buckets would be used as outdoor decorations and the Christmas ones she would turn into ornaments. Half the tree would be covered in them! The Beanie Baby panic would repeat itself a year or two ago with Pokémon cards and may repeat again this year.

I remember getting those yellow plastic cups with characters or a plastic bag hand puppet as an occasional promotion when I was really little. But in 1977-78, I lived in southern Illinois and the McDonalds there introduced a version of a Happy Meal called a Fun-To-Go. It came in a cartoon covered box with the golden arch handle but it was narrow (like a kid briefcase). It held a hamburger (vertically), small fries and a tiny bag of McDonaldland cookies. The prize was always a squishy rubber eraser- a high top sneaker or a race car, never a character. We moved to AZ in late 78 and my mom tried to order one and the people there were so confused but when mom explained it, the lady pulled out the now familiar house shaped box and said, "You mean a Happy Meal??"

Seeing the teanie beanie babies unlocked a memory from my childhood ('95) of having the little Nanook wolf. Think I'll buy one for my shelf :)

I remember when McDonald's was giving out toy story figures. I went up to the counter and asked the kid if he had a Woody. He started laughing and then I realized what I just said...😮

Every time I'm just blown away by how uncreative, cowardly, and unimaginative, the suits in corporate are. They would sell a gray block until the end of time, and the thought of introducing different colored blocks that might sell more, is just completely out of the question. "Why would anyone want something other than gray?", is the thought process.

I remember my childhood in the mid 90s, it was common to see the happy meal toys in garage sales and my parents were happy to spend a few nickles rather than a few bucks for the toy I wanted.

Yeah! They made the adult Happy Meal, but around the same time, they brought back the Halloween pails. Happy Meals caused so many grown adults to go crazy over said pails, the Pokémon card promos, the new McNugget Buddies, etc.

Some fun, some food, it's all inside this Happy Meal.

I miss those days when kids fight for their fave toy in the Happy Meal.

Loved the Batman Forever glasses. My family had all of them except for Robin (that glass was sold out at every local McDonald's close to where I used to live).

Happy Meals were a TREAT as a kid, and those Changeables will forever be the S-tier of Happy Meal toys

Anyone else ask their adult caregivers to take them to whichever restaurant had the better toys that week?

Tamagotchi deserves its own video and how dare you imply nobody remembers it 😂 everyone in my generation had one at one point. They were definitely a fad one that thrived for a short while.

If I remember, MacDonald's in the late 80's early 90's had a huuuuuuge Happy Meal sale spike with the Muppet Babies cartoon series toys. Everybody in school was showing off theirs for at least a month or so.

I live in Phoenix, I'm trying to figure out all the "good stuff". We did break the record last month for the most consistent days over 110°, so that's something I guess.

A+ video! Such a comprehensive video about Happy Meals, really learned a lot!

My mom had a day care in her home. She always asked the kids to bring her the toys when they were done. She had a huge collection, several old popcorn barrels full! We always liked playing with the toys.

The history of the fast food fish sandwich would be interesting not just the Mc Donald's Fillet of Fish but the whole history of "Fast food" sea food Long john Silver's lost franchises like Arthur Treacher's (though there is still an active franchise in Ohio) or ;lesser known franchises like Captain D's. That or a a history of Bojangles because it's the best and you can't not love a restaurant named Bojangles.

Oh God, I had some of these toys from the 80s... I got old. :(

The "my leg!" snippet from Spongebob at the end there was the chef's kiss on an already great video!

As a happy meal kid that collected all the toys growing up The best happy meal toys hands down are the Flintstones cars and houses. I still have the complete set.

I always remembered the toys having a crazy strong plastic smell out of the package. It made me feel sick for a few seconds. Little did I know that I was taking in chemicals by breathing that in and touching it. I didn’t go out of my way to smell it. I also was expecting there to be a reference to Adam Sandler “Can somebody get this kid a happy meal!!!”

Nostalgia of the best kind. Yes, I enjoyed Happy Meals and the Big Kids meals when they did that for a brief bit.

Shout out to all my fellow 80s/early 90s kids. I know you were all eating these cereals watching saturday morning cartoons w me

I sure got happy for happy meals back in the days. I remember the adult happy meal and ordered 3. 😅

Wow! Great story! I was not aware of this stuff. Could you please do a story on Burger Chef? We used to go there all the time because they had good cheap food. Then there was a rumor going around that they were selling "worm" burgers. Needless to say, our franchise closed down. A Hardee's was later opened in it's spot. Thank you! ☮️🙏

We still have those over here in Malaysia. It doesn't happen often, but if they are giving out merchandises from huge franchises such as Hello Kitty, expect the area to be flocked hours before the place is open.

They should just do Food Changables every year.

I remember my dad took me to the McDonald's at the local University, they were the only ones that had Bennie Baby's every other store was sold out, very clever.

Perfect timing! I was just reminiscing about Happy Meals a couple days ago and wondered what they're like today. I'm excited to watch!

I remember having some of those toys, especially the transforming food.

As a younger millennial/ older gen Z kid my favorite happy meal toys I ever got were the mini bionicle toys to tie in with the bionicle movie. They were pretty cheaply made to be honest but each one’s head and mask were exactly identical to the full sized bionicles from Walmart and the dollar store so I had plenty of spares and little “villagers” to protect with my full sized bionicles 🤣

The star trek happy meal was the best one they ever had.

Yes, I would be excited about an eraser when I was little. Haha!

Those looney tunes superhero toys were my JAM.

What I remember most is the toy line for Inspector Gadget. My family was extremely poor at the time so my sister and I only had the chest piece but you could collect both arms and legs if you find them with enough meals bought.

My favorite era of McDonald's toy was the ones that came together and made a bigger toy. Specifically the inspector gadget one. They were all separate toys but came together to form inspector gadget. What a time to be alive lol. Real quick edit: there was also all the Disney plates and cups you could get. I remember vividly eating of my Hercules plate almost every day as a child.

It's a common myth, but contrary to very popular belief, McDonald's actually *didn't* cancel the Batman Returns promotion. They allowed it to just run it's short course and became very careful about the property they partnered with afterwards. It's why we saw the Jurassic Park promotion be geared towards adults in the following year with their collectible cups and the birth of the now infamous "Super Size" option.

I worked at McDonald’s in 97 and it was a pure nightmare. Didn’t get paid enough to deal with those parents.

Hi Weird History, this was such a great video! As a 2000s kid, I have tons of nostalgia for Happy Meals, especially the Littlest Pet Shop ones. Knowing how popular Squishmallows are, I have a feeling that when they finally come to U.S Happy Meals, people are going to go crazy like they did with Beanie Babies. As for the bright colored buildings turning into dull, boring buildings, Jack In The Box can tell you plenty about that. Seriously, the 60s and early 70s Jack In The Box buildings were super cool, as they were box-shaped, brightly colored [sometimes with checker-board patterns], and the signs had Jack on them, although his design on the signs was always inconsistent. My favorite design is the one from the 1970s animated commercials [only three are on RU-vid], and that version of Jack was also voiced by Paul Winchell, voice of Tigger and inventor of the artificial heart! I really hope you'll do a video on Jack In The Box Restaurants one day, because the story is super crazy [even owned by RALSTON PURINA at one point], and I'd love to see you cover the pre-90's versions of Jack [especially the aforementioned 70s era Jack].

I have a whole collection of the beanie babies I wonder if they are worth anything.

I loved Happy Meal tie in commericals as a kid, and I grew in a family that never ate at McDonald's. So to compensate for that (and save some money in hard times), I buy any Happy Meal tie in I want!

This video? I'm lovin' it.

i remember putting the giraffe beanie baby in the microwave and getting yelled out by my mom. good times

I think Burger King when I worked there if they didn’t like the toy we could sub the toy for an ice cream cone

I LOVED Happy Meals growing up. My parents didn't have much time to spend with us, and we often ate homemade meals that were boiled/steamed veggies with rice, so getting food from McDs was always a special treat for us kids. I have very fond memories of Happy Meals and the toys, and I'm a living testament that their food isn't addictive, and that eating it young does not mean I come back to them, as I haven't even at McDs for over a decade.

When I worked at Wendy's, people at the drive thru would call their kids meal a "Happy Meal" (my favorite time is when a man at the drive thru asked if we had a "Children's Plate?")

Happy meals in my country still are the calorie inducing meals they always been. But they do offer juice instead of soda. As long as a inner child lives happy meals will never leave 😂

I remember when I had my first Happy Meal. We were coming home from vacation and we stopped at a La Crosse Wisconsin Mcdonald's. We had heard about Happy Meals but weren't around us (strange since we were about 45 minutes from McDonald's headquarters). My parents went to get them and coming out of McDonalds smiling because they got one for me and one for my brother. After that I would get them often, I remember the Star Trek spaceship for example. Years later I was working at McDonalds as a teen when the Fry Guys were in them. I saw adults coming in for them but felt stupid ordering a Happy Meal at work. I still have a few of the Teeny Beanie Babies, and a Furby from a Happy Meal. I got 101 Dalmatians figurines but not sure where these are now. I actually found that even though I'm an adult I sometimes order a Happy Meal for lunch because it's good for that, wouldn't order for dinner though.

I love this channel! You learn something new with every video.

You should have mentioned the 80s Happy Meal Astrosniks toys! The green and purple alien figures. I loved those!

I knew full well I was being targeted as a kid. And loved every Happy Meal moment of it. I even rebought some of the toys on eBay. Nostalgia is what it is. Super Mario Bros. 3 were the best.

My GOD the Beanie Baby era. Somewhere in the confines of my attic I have probably thousands. Thousands of them, not just from McDonald’s. That was a HUUUGE thing when I was a kid.

Have some fond memories of the Happy Meal as a kid. Especially the Disney toys which were pretty awesome. The newer Happy Meals sound kind of lame.

Bought a ton of these when I was in corporate! Two Happy Meals for lunch, make sure the toys weren‘t dupes! My co-worker wents nuts for his wife who wanted the 101 Dalmations, only to find he could just order them all at once at the end of the promotion! McD and BK toys were good, but Jack’s and the rest were terrible. (: Too many of them are either in their original packaging, or in poor faded condition. Still fun to collect and two HM‘s were still cheaper than a regular meal!

All I know about those creepy adult happy meals was my then two year old nephew and mom walked into a McDonald's and got some food. The person in front of them bought that adult happy meal, and my nephew thought it was his so he went to grab it. The 40 year old who bought it nearly got into a fight with a 2 year old, but at least the guy got his creepy four eyed grimace figure. My mom wouldn't have let my nephew take the other person's food, it was just a mistake made by a toddler who thought the colorful box was his.

Burger Chef was 1st in the idea departments where the other chains copied them years later...

As an 80's baby, I can NOT put into words how freaking bats**t crazy we used to go over the happy meal back in the day...the food was good and the toys were LEGIT!!! (sigh) Not anymore though...those days are long gone!

I had that Scorpion (from Spiderman) toy! Core memory unlocked.

I had to go look up the "ban" that happened in 2011 for San Francisco MacDonald's for including toys and the way it was gotten around was charging 10 cents for them outside of the meal box! Haha!

"It was a total attack against kids!" That cracked me up. The wooden, unnatural presentation shows us he he was forced to memorize the lines, why use "kids", instead of "us" or just "it was scary". No kid talks like that and the adult who wrote those lines was dumbass. Both probably never saw the film either.

I’m just amazed how big the burgers were back then.

I loved those food changeables back in the day.

As a family we almost never went to Mac Donalds (Netherlands in the 1990’s) because we would leave and still be hungry 😅 (those happy meal portions were much too small for anyone older than 6/7) I did have 2 of the Oliver&Co Happy meal toys and really liked them 🤗

The Sad History of McDonald's Happy Meal Ironic isn't it? Joke aside I was liked getting a happy meal as a kid. The Hot Wheels and other toys were cool. 0:01 I'm convinced this Manhattan Project joke is for the recent release of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer movie.

I remember back in the late 1970s in the Vancouver, Canada area we didn't have Happy Meals yet, but most McDonald's had a "Treat of the Week" toy - no purchase was necessary, you just had to ask a staff member and they'd give you one. They were pretty similar to stuff the US had with the initial Happy Meal rollout.

I wanted a happy meal on only a few occasions. One I remember was around 1994 because they had a hydraulic water gun I wanted to experiment with hydraulics. I think that was McDonalds.

Happy meals = the original lootbox.