McDonald's Happy Meal Toys Went from Being Great to just.. Forgettable
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The toys now at least in Europe are made of paper and soft plastic so the Happy Meal has certainly lost some of its magic and what it made a happy meal for kids to enjoy while eating it.
That said, the Pokémon cards included a while ago was honestly fine, but it was still inferior to the plastic toys from years before:
Never got the whole happy meals thing.my kids favourite thing about maccy ds is the Sliced apple. Macdonalds is something we get on holiday I refuse to buy it at home
I used to love collecting the little fluffy toys and add them to a handbag or something else. I have had the books which I feel really cheated by. Sorry they went straight in the bin.
eyeballkerry Yeah, the books/paper generally just gets thrown away whereas the plastic toys we'd keep them.
Think I have a Snoopy from many years ago I got from McD's.
I heard other people say this as well, sometimes they do have soft toys but yeah i saw some that were just cardboard. I guess environmentally it’s good cause there will be less plastic in landfill
jms19 The paper "toys" have little to no value so including it is mostly pointless as a lot don't like it and just throw it away.
There are exceptions, if it's Nintendo or Disney cards.
Yeah it's just cheap tatt now, last time we ordered from McDonald's delivery, they sent a crappy books instead of toys, daughter's wasn't happy
You can tell they're cheaper now compared to when I was a kid this is going back 20+ years .. the smurfs toy quality was really good compared to now.
Prices just keep rising too.. those £1.99 vouchers are £2.99
The toys and books are terrible now. I agree that less plastic is good but for the price they should do better or give option of no toy and cheaper
Imnotcheap They should just make Happy Meal cheaper because hardly anyone wants the "toys" these days.
I remember when it was £1.99 and came with a toy, a real toy.
PhilipMarc my boys love the idea of toys and books but they're usually just left at table now. Our order has gone up q shocking amount recently
Imnotcheap Not too long ago (2019) they still had great toys and one of them was a Transformer toy, I actually have it on my display shelf with other toys as it's just cool to have it. My grandma used to do the same. 
Got it for free as someone/kid left it behind, probably just forgot to take it because this is a toy kids would like to have.
Imnotcheap yeah but it's not the same as getting a cool toy with a Happy Meal order
The happy meal toys were definitely better about 20 years ago they are no fun anymore.
Yeah the toys have gone down hill especially when they do the cardboard ones they're rubbish lately though they've gotten better.
Well, they kept McDonald's Happy. My child never wanted these growing up. Neither did I!
I understand that they are trying to cut out plastic use, but they should make the toys with the meals appeal in other ways. Do love the free book option instead of a toy! Not every family can afford books. Also I do think they should do a vege / vegan burger in the happy meal, if I was a child I wouldn’t want vege fingers.
HappyHelperComp If the books were about Nintendo, Pokémon, Sonic, Power Rangers, or other well known brands/franchises that kids and adults like, they'd be a huge success, but as they are now, they're mostly thrown away.
PhilipMarc As I said, not every child has the privilege to own a book due to poverty. It doesn’t have to branded for a child to want to read a book.
I have always loved a chicken nugget happy meal, still buy them now, I used to love the beany toys, but these days I always go for the book option and give the book to a friend's kid who loves books
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