We don't eat fast food very often, but in the past few months we have been to fast food places a couple of times. My boys are old enough now that it is actually worth it to buy a kid's meal for them, although if I could buy the meal cheaper without the toy I would totally do it.
Here are some of the "wonderful" toys that we have ended up with:
Next we got two of these lovely Bob balls at Carl's Jr.
Not too bad, right? We haven't seen the movie that goes with the toy, but what little boy doesn't enjoy playing with a ball that looks like a monster?Last month when we had a busy Saturday we ended up at Arby's. I could not believe the "toy" that came in that kid's meal!
Wow! Justice League Bobbing-Head Heroes! Cool, huh?!Did I mention that they are made of cardboard?
And guess who gets to assemble this little beauty? That's right... Mommy. I hope your good at origami! Check out these instructions:
Yadda, yadda, yadda... Blobby-blah. Tab A into slot A, Tab B into slot B. Repeat 12 times...Who thought this would make a good kid's meal toy? It took me 20 minutes to get this sucker put together.
Neat-o, huh? And the head kinda bobbles... ooooh, aaaaaahh!When I got it together my son said, "Put it here on the table so I can get a good look at it."
"Sure." I replied, "Because that's about all you can do with it."
The darn thing nearly fell apart before I got a picture taken!
Today the boys and I went out for fast food again. I had some free meal coupons from the summer reading program at the library. The toy we ended up with was some kind of magnifying glass with a lovely cardboard scene to look at. I wasn't sure that would be very exciting for my three year old and 1 1/2 year old. So I went to exchange it for another toy.
This time we ended up with a Bob robot that is a voice changer:
So you talk really loud into the slots in the back of the robot and your voice comes out the front... just as loud and somewhat hollow sounding. Looks like another winner, huh?
I'm glad you finally came across something decent!
ReplyDeleteI remember putting together a whole bag of these toys and just chucked them out. Some were okay... it's just that with so many toys, them kids play with them on the days they got them and then totally forget about them afterwards. I try to get them less toys these days... less for me to tidy up after! Heh.
ReplyDeleteThose weird cardboard/oragami toys are so maddening!(for the moms and the kids) at that point, they shouldn't even have bothered with a toy! I like Chick-fil-A, they usually have a book or some type of science project thing.
ReplyDeleteYep...these toys last for about 3 days in our house before they get thrown in the garbage! The talking toys are what drive me crazy!!
ReplyDeleteIf it's not in one piece, they need to forget it!
ReplyDeletefun toys, except for that cardboard bobble head. i get the concept, but the manufacturers dropped the ball on that one. McD's {out family staple} has had Bakugan figures. my son has no clue about the show and characters, but has enjoyed playing with all these dinosaur/dragon/robot looking things. happy WW and take care.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to Fry Guy and Hamburgler and the fry girls (I don't remember what they were called). Or Barbie..not that our boys would care for Barbie.
ReplyDeleteWe've gotten Transformers. What freaking 2 year old watched Transformers cartoon or movie?
hate putting items together my children normally get tired of me trying and put it together their selves LOL
ReplyDeleteHappy Meal toys are gold around here. I still have yet to make it up to Hayden for throwing his away.
ReplyDeleteThese toys are such a waste of good plastic. :)
ReplyDeleteBTW: Great new profile picture.
For awhile now, we have not even let our kids open the toys in the kids meals (unless they were like a stuffed thing, my daughter likes those). I just collect them in a bag and then donate them...
ReplyDeleteI wish fast food places would give you the option of paying less without a toy. I like the kids meals, especially nowadays with things like milk and fruit instead of soda and fries! But I hate having those cheap crap toys around my house and car...
They are ridiculous aren't they?! And my kids still fight over them. I like Chick Fil A because they give books...usually decent ones. And I was surprised the other day when we went to BK, a very rare occasion, and got a Crayola hole punch with 4 shapes. It actually works!
ReplyDeleteWe rarely do fast food, but I agree, most of the toys are terrible. This summer they had the mini beanie babies at McDonalds which my son loves. Other than that he has gotten a few things that I don't know what to do with. Most are terrible!
ReplyDeleteI have to say that times have changed for me. When my children were little summer vacation meant collecting toys from McDonalds. We got all 7 dwarfs and Snow White. I still have them in a special bucket. We still dig in the sand pile with the shovel we got that went with a gardening theme. The quality was there because the toys are still here in the house. Too bad those of this generation cannot enjoy the same fun of yesterday. I'll dig out the bucket and let the grandchildren share in the fun when they come next time.
ReplyDeleteL-A-M-E! Fresh college twenty-something "boys" think of this stuff.
ReplyDeleteI think the only "toys" we kept from when I was little was actual glass drinking glasses from the restaurants. We had a set of Smurf ones. At least they were useful. My kids play with those toys for a bit and then they accidentally eventually end up in the garbage...not sure who puts them there. :)
ReplyDeleteSo this is why we don't allow our kids happy meal toys. Ever. No meals. Of course, it helps that we also only let the kids eat at one fast food place (a local, sustainable, all grass-fed, yada yada, yada). But the last thing I need is more junk in the house!
ReplyDeleteWhen mine were little, I would only buy kids meals at Chick-fil-a because they were the only decent toys/books around!
ReplyDeleteI'm just wondering why in the world some of these toys don't come with an instruction manual for parents?? My oldest are 3 y/o twins so if they get a toy and ask "mommy, help me!" I'm usually just as lost as they are. For instance, they just got that BOB Alien voice changer thingy and for the life of me, I couldn't understand whether it needed batteries, whether to blow through it or bounce it off the floor (for the springy noise first then talk through it). I figured I'd go to the Carl's junior website to see how the thing actually worked and alas, no instructions on how to use it. Just a larger picture of the toy *hmph* So maddening! Thus, that leads me here to the "Honey Mommy" (thanks for your post about it, btw) and finally I see how it works and I'm so very disappointed! LOL I guess my expectations were greater than my kids'. In our house, the cardboard toys get dumped/recycled immediately because they are worth all of the effort of putting them together just to be torn apart in a matter of seconds. I have to agree that Chick-fil-A has not only the best food, but the best toys for kids meals.
ReplyDelete