If you listened to our podcast, you may be asking yourself, “did McDonald’s really check Halloween candy to make sure it was safe for kids to eat?” As a franchise - no. However, it appears that the police would set up at a local McDonald’s and do the check for you. I’m going to call this one a draw on the “Did Carrie inadvertently tell a lie” counter. Stay tuned on that counter though because I have a feeling that it is a number that is likely to go up and up. Apparently, it’s a gift.
More importantly to this story, is why, in my child brain, did it seem like McDonald’s would be tied to one of the best nights of my life (trick-or-treat night, for those who might be questioning)? I think it is because as a child of the 70’s and 80’s so many of the good things I remember are tied to McDonald’s!
In the off chance you just emerged from a cave, or a remote island with no interaction with the outside world - in which case what on earth are you doing wasting time reading this blog? Get off this site, man and go explore! McDonald’s opened in California in the 50’s and started toward world domination a few years later. They expanded in the 60’s and across the U.S. in the 70’s. It was in the later part of the 70’s that they began marketing to children. It is then no surprise that this is the time that my childhood memories of McDonald’s begin.
Ronald McDonald and his curious gang of friends including Grimace, The Hamburgler, Mayor McCheese, Captain Crook, the Fry Guys and their McDonaldland universe were introduced. They graced so many important things from my childhood! You could give your favorite Valentine cards with this host of characters, have plates to use at home with their likeness, buy promotional glassware (Camp Snoopy, anyone?) collect the dolls and so much more! And then, in 1979, with the advent of the Kid’s Meal - the solid place McDonald’s holds in the ever growing house of my memories became that much stronger.
https://flashbak.com/59592-59592/
This capstone of my childhood ushered in a new decade of stronger still McDonald’s memories and the nostalgia that they command. There are just so many it is hard to know where to start!
First, there were the playgrounds. Always outside, as far as I know, you had the chance to play on and with these fictional friends. There was the Officer Big Mac Jail, elevated off the ground for my climbing pleasure. A metal slide featuring a character that didn’t impress me enough to be remembered, though I do remember the feel of scorching the back of my thighs in the summer as I happily went down that sucker! There were also the characters that were on springs that you could ride back and forth. I want to say that it was a fry guy though the memory is a hazy one.
If you were lucky enough, you had a friend who held their birthday at McDonald’s. Score! Not only did you get the most delicious meal you could possibly imagine, you didn’t have to worry about your parents forcing you to leave the playground just as the fun was really ramping up. It was a party, after all!
I have to say, the more I dig into my McDonald’s memory bank, the more they come flooding back. I can see the brown tray with the fancy paper liner you would get to help you cart your meal back to your table. On it was the Big Mac your dad ordered in its yellow foam box or your Mom’s McDLT with the double-sided foam box to keep the “hot side hot and the cool side cool”. The smiling face of the worker who handed it to you wearing that dark red shirt with the striped sleeves and the large collar. The young children sitting in their highchairs with the plastic McDonald’s bibs tied around their necks to keep the fry grease from staining their shirts! No judgment here, grease stains are hella hard to get out of clothes. To this day I have lost many a shirt to the non-removable grease stain!
And the Happy Meal, let me not forget that! At Halloween you would get it in their Halloween boo-bucket which you could then take trick-or-treating (I have not forgotten how this whole story got started!). Delicious chicken nuggets and the best fries ever invented all in a box that makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Of course, the most important piece of any Happy Meal memory would be the coveted toy that accompanied it. The 80’s had a ton of great ones. There were the hot wheels, My Little Ponies, and my favorite - the various McDonald food items that transformed into robots. By this time I was really too old to be impressed with a Happy Meal toy but let’s face it, cool is cool.
https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/blog/history-mcdonalds-toys/
As the nostalgia floods back, I could go on and on. I will not. However, if you find you just haven’t gotten enough, check out the links below as there is just so much more! I will leave you with this….sing along with me…..”Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese….” keep it going…..
https://www.eatthis.com/80s-mcdonalds-facts/
https://www.eater.com/22179053/mcdonalds-commercials-80s-90s-advertisements-ronald-mcdonald
** Special note ** This was written BEFORE McDonald’s announced the exciting return of the boo buckets!