What Was The First McDonald's Happy Meal Like?

For more than 40 years, kids have been begging their parents to take them through the McDonald's drive-thru for the coveted meal/toy combo promised by the Happy Meal (and for 40 years, parents have been saying "We have food at home!") From miniature Crocs to Hot Wheels, there's something magically American about getting a small figurine from your favorite movie along with your hamburger. But what was the very first Happy Meal like? Well, that depends on who you ask. 

Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño, a co-founder of the first Guatemalan McDonald's, is sometimes lauded as the mother of the Happy Meal. In 1977, she introduced the Ronald Menu at the location she ran in order to provide age-appropriate portion sizes to kids, including a smaller burger, fewer fries, a small sundae, and toys that she bought at a local market. But simultaneously, others were developing the idea of a menu geared specifically toward kids. Dick Brams, the St. Louis regional ad manager for McDonald's at the time, and Bob Bernstein, an ad manager for McDonald's locations throughout the Midwest and Southwest, have also been credited with the invention. So far as the trademarked Happy Meal in its current form? It would seem that Bernstein deserves credit for the puzzle-covered, toy-stuffed kid-friendly order we know today.

It launched first in 1977 in select cities with a burger, fries, Keebler cookies, a soda, and a Cracker Jack toy, and eventually launched nationally in 1979 as a circus-themed box with McDonald's arch handles, featuring a spinning top, erasers, a stencil, and other small prizes as the potential surprise item in each box.

The idea behind the first Happy Meal was truly to cater to kids and parents: Simplify ordering for parents, and create something fun for kids that doesn't leave them with a half-finished burger to be tossed away. So the pre-boxed meal created a one-sentence path to ordering, with one simple option made more enticing by the promise of a toy — not to mention the jokes and fun artwork that covered the box. Soon after, they began their famous movie tie-in boxes with the release of a Star Trek-themed Happy Meal — complete with a Klingon commercial.

Since then, they've offered Play-Doh, Legos, toothbrushes, Crayons, Barbies, and Smurfs, switched the soda default to milk, and added a side of apple slices after facing pushback on their nutritional content. Today, the Happy Meal features chicken nuggets and hamburger options, fries, apple slices, and milk or juice, with so many different options that employees may be less-than-happy when Happy Meals are ordered. Certain Happy Meals today are actually made for adults — but the McDonald's arch handles (and the toy) remain. In fact, some years they've even been lauded as the world's top toy distributor — so whoever invented it, they were certainly on to something.