Kid’s Meal Toys
July 16, 2006 by Kerri Aldrich
Filed under Children's Books, Children's Music / CDs, Children's Toys
The kids and I have been to fast food joints twice this week. I know, I know, I’m not going to win any mother of the year awards with that kind of nutrition record, but it gives me another kid topic to share with you, our wonderful readers.
Early in the week, after our visit to the free movie, we went out with our friends to McDonald’s. We drove out of the way especially for the McDonald’s that had the indoor playland, with seating for dining (can you really refer to it as dining when it’s fast food?) in the play area. Of course, by the time we got there, there was no longer any seating left in the play area. So, we just corralled the kids into a common area, and took turns doling out our husbands’ hard earned cash for a few nuggets and a cheap toy. (I don’t think I’m insulting McDonald’s by referring to the toys as cheap. You don’t see them putting American Girl Dolls in there.)
As Hsien mentioned in an earlier post, Pirates of the Caribbean was the theme for the current Happy Meals. So, we start handing out the lunches, and my daughter reaches in to check out the toy. She pulls out a very scary looking skull. She hands it over to her (male) buddy, and asks if she can have a girl toy. Well, apparently Pirates of the Caribbean is gender neutral, because they have no girl toys. They do, however, have the pirate bandana things (sorry, not up on my pirate fashion lingo), and 6 of the 7 kids trade in their skulls for pirate headwear. (One of the 3 year old girls happily grabs her skull after my one year old happily slobbered all over it. Sorry about that!)
My question is this: Why are the toys in Happy Meals promoting a movie that the kids can’t see for, like, a decade? I understood when they were doing the Cars toys. But this one doesn’t seem like a great fit. Oh well. Who am I to question a culinary empire?
The other kids’ meal that my darlings consumed this week (No, I wasn’t just joking. Yes, they had fast food twice this week. No, I didn’t force the fruit over french fry option on them. Yes, they actually did have some veggies this week, too.) was from Chick-fil-a. I personally love going to Chick-fil-a. The employess are always helpful and cheery, they have a clean playland, and my husband always takes the kids to play so that I can have a few minutes to myself to read (this is one of my luxuries these days, and I am thankful for it!).
In addition to a great environment, they usually put books in their kids’ meals instead of toys. This week, they had CDs of stories from the PBS show, “Between the Lions.” My kids love this show, and were so excited to have the stories on CD. I love the fact that it’s not another cheap toy to get kicked around for a week until it breaks and someone has a crying fit over it. And, way too conveniently, the CD lasted just long enough to get us from their parking lot to our garage. I really wonder if Chick-fil-a exists just to brighten my day. 
Did I mention they were also handing out free samples of their new milkshakes? Yum!
KBaggott at Babylune shares another positive aspect of Chick-fil-a.
We go to McDonald’s every couple of months and it’s a huge deal for S. The other day, I mentioned to another mom that it was our McD day and she said they’d never been to McD yet. Now that’s serious fortitude! My favorite fast food is Taco Bell but most young kids don’t seem to care for them much and I don’t recall them having any cool toys either. The Cars toys are coming to the UK next month or something when the movie is released but the toys are everywhere already including cereal boxes.
OK. I’m rambling….
Didn’t realize there was such a lag with the movies coming out of the US. I think Cars is almost to the cheap seats here. But the Cars Happy Meal toys were really cute, even without having seen the film yet. Enjoy!
The next toy in the happy meal at McDonalds is AMERICAN GIRLS…read the bottom of the current box for there:)