Reminiscing about fun, happy meals

I had a random thought driving in to work this morning. That thought led into another one, and they were both about McDonald's.

Does anyone know if you can still trick or treat at McDonald's? As I recall, unless I'm completely making this up, I used to stop by McDonald's on Halloween night. If you did that, you would get a bag of cookies. My favorite have always been the McDonaldland cookies, and let me tell ya, this was always one of the best treats I got on Halloween. (By the way, if you order a Happy Meal for your self [which I sometimes do, it's the perfect amount of food where you don't feel blah] you can usually ask to exchange the toy for a bag of cookies.)

So then that thought led to the next: I wonder if you can still take your report card to McDonald's and get free burgers? Does anyone know if you can? It was kind of an un-advertised thing, but you could take it there and get free hamburgers for every A you had. Limit of 6. The person who waited on you would initial your report card so you couldn't cheat and bring it back, and it was great! We usually got our burgers and then went over to my grandparents' house where we would share them with them. And I would usually find a piece of cheese in their fridge to add on. For a short period of time, Taco Bell jumped in on this too and gave you free tacos, but I think that was limited to only 3 or 4.

Ah those were the days. As much as everyone wants to dis McDonald's for their unhealthy food, I think most everyone has fond memories of being a kid and going to a place like that and getting fast food. A friend of mine (she's in her 70s) has told a story where Friday was McDonald's night, and they would pile their 10 kids in the station wagon and treat the kids. My mom still occasionally will talk about going to the A&W that used to be in town, and getting the little 10-cent root beers. I remember, in my hometown location, how the play area used to be in the back of the store. And friends had birthday parties there, and there was only one slide. That slide is still there to this day, though it got moved to a larger play area. Back in the day when fast food and easy-frozen cooking wasn't rampant, it was a real treat to go there. Heck, I still think it's a treat for myself to this day. On my last day of college, the day I moved out, I had everything packed up and ready to go and I decided to REALLY treat myself and get breakfast at McD's.

I think these reasons are why it really bums me out when I hear about legislation to ban Happy Meal toys because it's supposedly promoting 'unhealthy eating.' Yeah right. Let kids be kids. A toy is a toy, and McDonald's food is perfectly fine in moderation, as it's supposed to be. No one is 'supposed' to eat there as often as some do, so don't punish a bunch  of kids because of your lack of a desire to make a home-cooked meal.