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Happy Meals

46 replies

ItsAStupidQuestion · 04/08/2024 21:12

At what age did a Happy Meal stop being enough for your child?

OP posts:
TooManyNiblings · 05/08/2024 12:04

DD is 10 and still has one, but mostly for the toy, I think!

Goaperipoff · 05/08/2024 12:05

I've never actually thought about it before but my 7.5YO always finishes his then asks if he can have something else. His 3YO sister always has plenty left so he has that too. Maybe I'll need to move him up to an adult meal soon when DD starts eating more of hers. He is a skinny boy before anyone says it is an obesity problem but he does have ADHD and moves constantly.

x2boys · 05/08/2024 12:07

My son was about nine ,he's nearly 18 now , I remember he was most disappointed on his lsst day at primary school, they had got them a " McDonald's " as a treat and got them all a happy meal🤣

SleepEatSnoozeRepeat · 05/08/2024 12:07

Aged 8 or so. The food wasn’t as much as I would give them at home, and the toy was usually not something of interest by then. I think they moved up to the 6 nugget meal first, and now as teens it’s a stacked up burger of some sort. I don’t think that’s so unusual. Both dc were my height by age 10.

JaneAustenshandbag · 05/08/2024 12:08

My 16 year old dd still has a happy meal 😂 she isn’t typical though!

Girasoli · 05/08/2024 12:48

7/8 for DS1. He either gets 6 chicken nuggets or a mayo chicken burger with no lettuce/mayo added.

They are the perfect size for DS2 (4)

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 05/08/2024 12:49

About 9 but she also wanted to try other stuff anyway.

MyStylish40s · 05/08/2024 12:52

Probably at about 8.

Mind you, my teens are now hungry not long after a Big Mac meal Hmm

BogRollBOGOF · 05/08/2024 13:46

6

They're the spindly, hollow-legged type and very expensive to feed. At 11/ 13 they're on adult portions everywhere and always get a good â…”s+ of their way through adult sizes.

Looking at the rest of their family, they'll calm down when they're 30...

Anxiety1234 · 05/08/2024 13:56

My 11 year old dd still usually gets a happy meal! If we’re going with friends she would get a medium nugget meal but generally leave one nugget & half the chips .
6 year old dd eats nearly all happy meal .
i still get one too if it’s lunchtime rather than dinner . I would only eat a happy meal up to age 16- as did all my friends !
I remember my first Big Mac meal I was 16 and couldn’t finish it - unfortunately that’s not the case now 😂

FallingIsLearning · 05/08/2024 14:17

No sign of wanting more than a Happy Meal here. My daughter last had one the week before her 9th birthday, as we were rushing to get from a matinee in London to get to a friend’s house for the Euro final.

Those details are relevant, as it means that she also had an ice cream in the interval of the show, and there were also snacks freely available during the football (although I don’t recall her particularly helping herself to them).

The last time that I remember buying her a Macdonalds before that was in a service station 9 months earlier, so she hadn’t had lots of junk food around the time of the meal (although I guess she wasn’t expending much energy stuck in the car for 5 hours). She seemed satiated then.

I think she’s been at least twice with friends between those two occasions and definitely had Happy Meals whenever she’s gone, and hasn’t been ravenous when she got home.

If it makes a difference, she also has milk as her drink in the Happy Meal. Milk’s quite filling, isn’t it?

As a side note, I’m interested to see the many posts saying that younger children have grown out of the toy. It’s all about the toy whenever she’s had a Macdonalds. In fact, the only reason we went to that service station in November rather than coming off to find a nice pub was because she wanted the Squishmallow toy!

FallingIsLearning · 05/08/2024 14:21

Should also add that she doesn’t have a small appetite. She’ll eat a lot in one sitting, but then hardly anything in the next.

We’ve in fact had to have chats with her about not being selfish, when we’ve eaten family-style, and she has tried to help herself to all the roast potatoes, or all the prawns, or whatever.

So it might be just that she really likes the Happy Meal toy, but is actually really not bothered about the food.

Fudgetheparrot · 05/08/2024 14:38

DD is 6.5 and loves a happy meal, but has some extra chips from me and her dad after .

puppychase · 05/08/2024 14:41

My 6YO is on adult meals however he never finishes the chips. It's the extra nuggets and bigger drink (still oasis) he's after

BobbyBiscuits · 05/08/2024 14:43

I never had the happy meal as a kid. Always the fillet o fish. But I had to campaign heavily to be allowed it with chips. 'are you sure you'll finish it?' erm, yeah, it's McDonald's FFS! Haha.
Now kids I know seem to want the main meals after about 8 or 9. I don't mind the odd nugget every now and again.

Bunsforbreakfast · 05/08/2024 14:47
  1. Now I get a happy meal with an extra small cheeseburger, she doesn't usually finish everything. 11 year old has a regular meal
FuckMeUpFlorida · 05/08/2024 14:47

I still order them Grin

OrangeVelour · 05/08/2024 14:54

FuckMeUpFlorida · 05/08/2024 14:47

I still order them Grin

Me too, and I'm 54 😂

Negangirlxx · 05/08/2024 14:55

When I was a kid, from about the age of 8, I’d have a happy meal, with an extra 59p hamburger, or something like that. (Showing my age here, lol!) I think I moved on to adult meals at about the age of 10, or so?

Bearybasket · 05/08/2024 16:25

It’s was between 9-11 for our lot I think.

A mix of growing out of the toys and wanting what their siblings were having for the younger ones rather than still being hungry after it, although we usually got them a mcflurry or pie after since it was such an occasional treat.

Saschka · 05/08/2024 16:28

Danikm151 · 04/08/2024 22:08

Get the cheeseburger saver meal. Medium fries and only 20p more. They just miss out on the toy.

The toy is the whole point!

DS doesn’t even like the veggie dippers, he just eats the chips and apple and nabs the toy. It’s barely a snack for him.

I’ve switched to just buying the toys off eBay, it is cheaper and more reliable (our local McDonalds defaults to giving them the books, regardless of what you actually order, so you have to be quick and tell them to swap it).

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