To think McDonald's happy meal toys are nothing what they used to be.

[KerfuffleShuffle]

Now I know happy meal toys were never anything to write home about but I do remember them having some function/point/quality as a child (in the 90's). Items like mini beanie babies or wind up/pull back toys. I was with a child today as they had a happy meal and the toy was truly pap. Some animal jam mini firm plush key ring that this 4 year old didn't even look to take out the bag. When did they start going down hill (if they weren't at the bottom of the hill to start with )?

That's funny, I just took my 4 year old too. He got a wee soft toy owl, and announced to the room "see mummy, this isn't plastic rubbish, it's so cute".

I think they might as well stop doing them at this point. If they arent going to put something decent in then it's just a waste of plastic. My 3 year old can't even get excited over them. Particular when it's books far above her reading age. The little teddies aren't so bad but the angry birds toys they were doing a while back were pathetic.

DS really loves a slightly older one that's a hand that grips, has a magnifier and a light.

He cried when he saw the plushie as they're not real toys

I find some of the toys in them really very strange these days.

DS1 once got an R2D2 which was about 4" high and makes the proper noises. It is still knocking about the house somewhere.

Do you think it’s because they can’t advertise the happy meals any more the return isn’t as lucrative? Therefore there’s not as much effort put into the toys
I don’t think they’re awful though.

YANBU.

I remember having little Barbie's with hair you could comb, electronic cat and dog, characters from Toy Story, Mulan etc. They were all nice toys you would want and would be exciting to play with. In my mind, at some point around 2000, the quality of the toys declined.

That’s surprising as a lot of the plastic junk we normally get goes in the bin, whereas DS is really happy with the animal plushes and keeping a little collection of them on his shelf

I suppose it’s all a matter of personal preference, DS likes soft toys so they have value to him.

The lego movie cups were also good as we kept them and still use them when we have lots of young guests, it makes it easy for them to remember who had each cup by remembering the pictures

Love the plushies, they're cute!
The books that appealed to older kids only, that annoyed me though. And seemed to go on for ages.
(DS has SPD / possible ASD and one of the only foods I can get him to eat is nuggets and chips so we are there A LOT)

Thinking back, a lot of the toys Happy Meal toys I enjoyed as a kid (like figures from the latest disney movie, or a mini barbie) would probably be sold in blind bags or in sets for ££ now. So there probably isn't any sense in giving them away.

Ds2 is 8 and he generally loves the happy meal toys he liked the animal jam plush he got a few weeks ago because he likes soft toys. He was at a birthday day out today for a friend and they had McDonald’s and he got a plastic Pokemon and a Pokemon card he was delighted because he always loves a new Pokemon card.
I think it’s preference really he’s had plastic cups he still uses, he loves the Peter rabbit ones because they were all little games. I think for what they are they aren’t awful really and that’s a cheap toy inside a fast food box.

When I was a kid they did the full range of burgers driving little cars; the cheeseburglar was my favourite. Recently we loved the ones for the Snoopy movie.