Man, I am old because I clearly remember when the Happy Meal was introduced. 

The Happy Meal is such a simple concept, hamburger, fries and drink all contained in a little box that had games on the outside.  But the real excitement, the thing that made the Happy Meal stand out and caused every other chain to follow suit, was the toy.  It wasthe first fast food restaurant that realized catering to kids would draw in the adults.

The earliest toys were simple.  Now the toys are all tied into movies and are highly commercialized, which loses something for me.  Yes, I am old and crotchety.  Now get off of my lawn.

The most popular series of toys was the Teenie Beanie Babies, which were initially released in 1997.  I remember how crazy people went for these, lining up at the drive-thru window trying to get every single one in the series.  Our personal family favorite was the Inspector Gadget.  It was the first toy that I remember that was multi-pieced so that you had to keep going back to  McDonald’s in order to complete the toy.  That part, was not my favorite since we rarely ate there.  There might still be pieces of that toy in the bottom of our toybox.

The newer Happy Meal has more options and less calories.  Most kids opt for the chicken nuggets over the hamburger.  Were chicken nuggets even invented yet in 1979?  I wonder.  I certainly do not remember eating them and my childhood was filled with all the processed foods one could possibly have eaten.  In fact, it would not be an understatement to say that in the 70’s my family embraced the processed foods as a food group.

Happy Birthday to the Happy Meal, for better or worse it is an American Icon.