Child of the 1980's - The Happy Meal Age

           “You deserve a break today!” 

The Golden Arches, the king of fast food, and surely a big part of the childhoods of most 1980’s kids, that is McDonald’s.  For me trips to McDonald’s in the 1980’s are associated with birthdays, good report cards, and successful sporting events.  The first half of the 1980’s also included another thing during McDonald’s trips, that being the Happy Meal.  I spent my early childhood years excitedly ordering them during my special trips to the fast food giant, eagerly anticipating the toy inside.

                When I first experienced a McDonald’s Happy Meal they were still a new choice.  The very first were tested locally in Kansas City markets in October 1977 before being launched nationally in June 1979 at a cost of $1.10.  The idea of a colorfully illustrated lunch pail type package aimed toward children is credited to a McDonald’s advertising executive named Dick Brams.  The very first nationally released Happy Meals had a circus wagon design and had handles on top to make it easy for kids to carry.

                Inside of the package children were greeted by a hamburger or cheeseburger, cookies,  and small French fries, in addition to a small drink of their choosing.  This would remain the same until McDonald’s introduced their Chicken McNuggets nationwide in 1983.  In recent years the company has attempted to become more health conscious by giving the options of apple slices and milk in addition to the old standbys.

                The first toys inside the Happy Meals were subpar compared to later years.  Kids would find a ‘McDoodler’ stencil, a ‘McWrist’ wallet, or an eraser shaped like a McDonaldland character inside.  Those characters included Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Hamburglar, Birdie the Early Bird, Mayor McCheese, the Fry Kids, and more.  Children were likely pleased with their toys since there was nothing else to compare them to, today though it would be seen as a disappointment.

McDonaldland Characters

               
      Later in 1979 McDonald’s stepped up their game and had toys in the Happy Meals promoting Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  In the 1980’s the fast food giant would gain a reputation by having some legendary toys in the children’s meals.  Some of the greats include: Changeables which were essentially McDonald’s food products that transformed into robots, McNugget Buddies which were dressed in different occupational costumes, a set of colorful Halloween pails, and the iconic Mac Tonight Moon Man figures.  They also hit on many of the popular kids shows of the 80’s with their toys like Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Garfield, DuckTales, and more. 

It is easy to see why sales of the meals are still so high.  For example, according to Time Magazine in 2012 1.2 billion Happy Meals were sold worldwide.  Granted not all of the news is great, the childhood obesity rate has grown from 4.2% in 1979 when Happy Meals were introduced to 18.5% in 2017.  That is not all due to one restaurant though.  On a lighter note if you saved any of your toys from that era some are worth good money.  Some of the most valuable include the Roary the Lion Beanie Baby which can go for as much as $750, the 1990’s fad Furby’s are also quite valuable. 

Did you ever have a Happy Meal during your childhood?  Do you still have any of the toys?   Stay tuned for more killer 80’s memories!

Click here for my last Child of the 80's blog all about the Atari 2600!

28 - 12/16/2010 - In My Footsteps Trip

Initial Impressions

Christopher Setterlund

28 – 12/16/2010 – In My Footsteps Trip

1.  Today was the final In My Footsteps trip of the calendar year.  The next one will be on the 1-year anniversary of my first trip, 1/7/2011.

2.  This was the coldest trip I have taken since the beginning during the last winter, it was 25 degrees to start and windy, busted out the heavy winter coat today.

3.  First visited Rockland, it was the second Rockland I have traveled to.  Only Newport is a town that I have seen in 2 different states.

4.  On the blue crosswalks in Rockland there was some sort of symbol painted in white, it was hard to get a good photo of something in the middle of a busy street, but luckily I found one that I shot.  Still trying to figure out what the hell it is.

5.  I visited Rockland thinking that the original Rockland Trust Bank would be located there.  Seems logical right?  So I start chatting up this nice old guy raising the flag outside and he tells me that the original one was in Scituate.  So then why was it not named Scituate Trust?  I rapidly lost interest as he gave me directions to it, I had one of those thought clouds with a monkey playing the drums going on while he spoke.

6.  The best part of Rockland was this row of 5 wooden soldiers in front of the Town Hall sign.  They were so awesome, every brand of the military was represented too.  I wish I could have taken one home.

Awesome yellow and red house.

7.  There was a nice row of old homes at the end of Union Street in Rockland, but none topped the crazy yellow one with red shutters and little awnings over each window.  The photo will show you what I mean, it was so cool. 

8.  In order to see these homes I parked at a Mobil station.  There was some guy sitting in his parked running car next to mine and he just stared at me.  I wanted to say ‘Dude, I am going to walk around, you’re just sitting here like a creepy stalker so quit staring!’

9.  I always love finding places that aren’t on my list to see.  The only problem is cutting the wheel to whip my car into a parking spot, or turning around with no regard for human life, yeah I might need to change that.

Norwell was a pleasant surprise, best spot of the day.  I stopped at the Town Offices and found myself interested enough to shoot a pair of drop boxes.  I then thought to myself ‘are these really that important to the day?’  The answer was of course yes.

10.  The White Oak Farm Barn was an unexpected spot to see.  I parked across the street and took a few photos, then the owner came to the door with his dog.  Lucky for me he thought it was cool that I was photographing his historic home, or else I’d have been a chew toy.

11.  Garfield Park was a nice little spot, despite the fact that it had nothing to do with the famous orange cat.  I mean even a little chalk sketch on the sidewalk would have sufficed for me.

12.  Best spot of the day was Norris Reservation, a conservation area.  There was a frozen pond which emptied into a creek.  There was some amazing ice build ups around rocks and branches.  I ventured down and walked onto the rocks into the creek, one slip and it was an unpleasant ending.  So I am hunched down taking photos when I notice a guy and his dog staring, yeah looked like I was peeing so what about it?

13.  Wanted a few photos of the North River going through Norwell.  I drove over a bridge and parked in a pretty dangerous area and walked back onto the bridge.  It was here that I saw the nice dirt parking lot on the other side of the river, guess I should have turned my head slightly when driving.

14.  Definitely the oddest location I hit up was the Stetson Meadows.  I thought it was going to be a historic home, which it was, but I did not realize it would be down like a thousand miles of pot hole filled dirt road which ran along Rt. 3. 

15.  The area was nice though, I scared a chipmunk while shooting a marsh.  It was funny because while shooting I could hear the leaves rustling as the chipmunk tried to very slowly escape behind me. 

Hanover was not too exciting, some good stuff but all in like a one block radius.

16.  The best part of Hanover was getting to eat at Moe’s Southwest Grill in the Hanover Mall.  Oh man that was worth the trip all on its own!

17.  What kind of idiot drives around with his gas tank cover open?  Me, boo, real smart.

18.  I was done so quickly with my three towns I visited that I had time to go shoot a video at Old Scituate Light.  That makes 4 times I have been there, never get tired of it.  Also, if you’ve seen the photos doesn’t the lighthouse look like it’s wearing a dress with the way the bottom flows out?  Yes, this was something I really asked, it is on the video.

Quote of the Day:  “I like when I drive places and know where things are.” –Me, I immediately laughed at how stupid that sounded too when I said it.

Song of the Day:  Honey Do – Nesian N.I.N.E. (buy Mp3 here)

Photo of the Day: 

The soldiers in front of Rockland Town Hall