Happy Meal logo, English

Happy Meal logo, Japanese. Text reads "Happy Set" in transliterated English

Happy Meal logo, Spanish. Text reads "Happy little box"

A "Happy Meal" is a meal specially tailored for children, sold at the fast-food chain McDonald's since June 1979. For the coarsely ground flour see Flour. A meal is an instance of Eating, specifically one that takes place at a specific time and includes CHILD syndrome (or congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform erythroderma and limb defects) is a genetic disorder A toy is typically included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a small box or paper bag with the McDonald's logo. This article is about playthings For other uses of the term see Toy (disambiguation. Food is any substance usually composed primarily of Carbohydrates Fats water and/or Proteins that can be eaten or drunk by an Elaborate wood box Tom TanakaJPG|thumb|An elaborate wooden box]] Box describes a variety of containers and receptacles

Product description

In the United States the Happy meal includes:

• a side order consisting of small order of fries or pre-cut apples. French fries ( North American English; sometimes not capitalized chips ( British English) fries or French-fried potatoes (formal
• a child size soft drink, milk, chocolate milk or apple juice. Soft drink is a beverage that does not contain Alcohol. Carbonated soft drinks are commonly known as soda soda pop pop, or
• a hamburger, cheeseburger, or four-piece order of Chicken McNuggets. Chicken McNuggets (introduced in 1983) are a Fast food product offered by the restaurant chain McDonald's.

In some locations such as in Australia, the choices have been expanded to include items such as a grilled cheese sandwich (known as a "Fry Kid"), or more "healthy" options such as apple slices, salads or pasta, as one or more of the options. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. ^[1]

In the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries, McDonald's has recently introduced a "healthy option" to the Happy Meal - children can now choose to have milk or a fruit juice drink instead of a soft drink, and bags of dried fruit (or a whole piece of fruit such as an apple, or carrot sticks) in place of fries. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page JUICE is a widely used non-commercial Software package for editing and analysing phytosociological data The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context and the term is not synonymous in Food preparation and Biology. The apple is the pomaceous Fruit of the apple tree Species Malus domestica in the Rose family Rosaceae. The carrot ( Daucus carota subsp sativus, Etymology: Middle French carotte, from Late Latin carōta, from Greek karōton

Variants

The Mighty Kids Meal is a meal from McDonald's designed for preteens, who are older than those who might eat a Happy Meal, but still not hungry enough to eat from the full menu. Preadolescence is a stage of human development through Childhood that occurs in a child's years before Adolescence. The concept is similar to the Happy Meal, in that it provides a burger or Chicken McNuggets, french fries, and a drink and toy. Chicken McNuggets (introduced in 1983) are a Fast food product offered by the restaurant chain McDonald's. French fries ( North American English; sometimes not capitalized chips ( British English) fries or French-fried potatoes (formal The difference is that the Mighty Kid's Meal provides more food than what is typically found in a Happy Meal, providing a double cheeseburger instead of a cheeseburger or a hamburger, and more Chicken McNuggets (6 vs 4), plus a larger drink.

McDonald's began offering the Mighty Kids Meal in 2001, but the concept was originally developed by Burger King in the form of its Big Kids Meal. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Burger King ( often abbreviated to Its advertising campaign involved kids being put in infantile situations, to represent that the regular Happy Meal was for younger kids. In the UK it was called the Happy Meal Extra

The Go Active! Meal was a promotion introduced in 2004, and lasted from May 11 through to June 7^[2]. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Events 330 - Byzantium is renamed ''Nova Roma'' during a dedication ceremony but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople Events 1099 - The First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins Due to the criticism of the film Super Size Me, this item replaced the Super Size meals. Super Size Me is a 2004 Documentary film written produced directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent Supersize was a trademark that referred to the largest portion size available in meals offered by McDonald's. The Go Active! Meal featured a Dasani water bottle, a salad, a pedometer instead of a toy, and an exercise booklet. Dasani (dəˈsɑːni is a Brand of Bottled water from the Coca-Cola company launched in 1999, after the success of Aquafina Salad is a mixture of cold foods usually including vegetables and/or fruits often with a dressing occasionally nuts or Croutons, and sometimes with the addition of Omron HJ112JPG|thumb|A digital Omron HJ-112 pedometer]] A pedometer (also known as a Tomish-meter perhaps after the alleged Inventor of a successful device

International naming

To ensure that the trademark is internationally recognizable, McDonald's now uses the term "Happy Meal" in most countries. A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual There are some exceptions, such as in Quebec, where it is also called "Joyeux festin" (literally meaning "happy feast") but it is called "Happy Meal" in France. Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. In Spanish-speaking Hispanic America and Puerto Rico it is known as "Cajita Feliz" (Happy Little box in Spanish), but in Spain, it is called "Happy Meal". Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} In Brazil is known as "McLanche Feliz" (Happy McSnack in Portuguese), however in Portugal it is also called "Happy Meal".

In Japan, it was called Okosama Lunch from 1987 to 1988, then Okosama Set from 1988 to 1995 (Okosama is a polite word for "child"), before being renamed to "Happy Set". Japanese, like other languages uses a broad array of Honorifics for addressing or referring to people with respect In Germany, it was known as "Juniortüte" (Bag for Juniors in German) until 1999. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe.

History

The Happy Meal was the brainchild of St. Louis, Missouri advertising manager Dick Brams, who in 1977 contracted both Kansas City-based advertising firm Bernstein-Rein and Stolz Advertising Company of St. Kansas City Missouri only Items for the metro area Kansas City Kansas or North Kansas City MO should go on their respective pages Bernstein-Rein is an Advertising agency located in Kansas City Missouri. Louis to develop a children's meal that would promote McDonald's as a restaurant for families, specifically those with smaller children. Stolz Advertising created the original McDonald's children's meal concept several months before Bernstein-Rein and it was known as McDonaldland Fun-To-Go because its mission was also to promote the new drive-through window service that was being introduced to the market at that time. Brams delayed the introduction of Stolz's concept in St. Louis because he wanted to introduce both concepts simultaneously in St. Louis and Kansas City. Fun-To-Go commercials were filmed in St. Louis that featured King Moody, who played Ronald McDonald at the time. Robert "King" Moody ( 6 December 1929 - 7 February 2001) was an American actor best known for playing Ronald McDonald Ronald McDonald is a Clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's Fast-food restaurant chain The Stolz meal featured the first McDonald's in-meal premiums, based on the video game Space Invaders. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. is an arcade Video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978 ^[3]

The very first Happy Meal in 1979 in Kansas City was the Circus Wagon Happy Meal and McDonaldland Fun-To-Go in St. Louis. It cost one dollar and contained either a McDoodler stencil, a puzzle book, a McWrist wallet, an ID bracelet or McDonaldland character erasers. ^[4] The Circus Wagon Happy Meal consisted of a hamburger or cheeseburger, twelve-ounce soft drink, a small order of french fries, and a "McDonaldland Cookie Sampler", a small portion of cookies.

Often the Happy Meal is themed to promote a current movie. The first such promotion was the Star Trek Meal, to promote Star Trek: The Motion Picture in December 1979. Star Trek The Motion Picture is a 1979 Science fiction film from Paramount Pictures. The packaging used for the Star Trek Meal consisted of various images and games related to the film, as well as a comic strip adaptation of the film. Consumers had to buy numerous meals in order to complete the set.

Happy Meal toy

Transformers Tankor figure, as released by McDonalds. The Transformers is a line of toys produced by the toy companies Takara and Hasbro. Tankor is the name of several Fictional characters from the various Transformers universes.

The Happy Meal did not introduce the practice of providing small toys to children. In Canada, the promotion prior to the Happy Meal was called the "Treat of the Week," where a different toy was available free on request each week. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page This promotion continued after the Happy Meal was introduced.

Happy Meal toys have become increasingly elaborate in recent years. While initially they were little more than a cheap plastic trinket such as a frisbee or ball, they have gradually been replaced with increasingly sophisticated toys, many of which are a tie-in to some existing toy line or contemporary motion picture. BALL ( Biochemical Algorithms Library) is a C++ library containing common algorithms used in Biochemistry and Bioinformatics. A tie-in is an authorized product based on a media property a company is releasing such as a movie or Video / DVD, Computer game, Video game Past examples of recent Happy Meal toys have included Ty Beanie Babies, Rescue Pets, Neopets toys and a trading card,My Little Pony Figurines, Sonic the Hedgehog electronic mini games, Nicktoons like Rocko's Modern Life, anime like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon and also digimon and such like trading cards, Mattel brands Barbie and Hot Wheels, Hello Kitty, Hummers, and toys based on many Disney movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and cartoons or shows such as Power Rangers and movies such as Surf's Up. A Beanie Baby is a stuffed animal made by Ty Inc Ty was founded by Ty Warner who promoted the line in specialty stores and gift shops Rescue Pets are a plush toy series manufactured and marketed by MGA Entertainment Neopets (originally NeoPets) is a virtual pet Website launched by Adam Powell and Donna Williams on 15 November 1999 Video Games See also [[List of games featuring Sonic the Hedgehog]] Nearly all games in the series feature a teenage hedgehog named "Sonic the Hedgehog" Nicktoons are animated television programs airing on the children's television channel Nickelodeon and its many spin-offs Rocko's Modern Life is an American Animated series created by Joe Murray that aired for four seasons from 1993 to 1996 (anime in Japanese, is a Japanese Manga created by Kazuki Takahashi, which has spawned a franchise including multiple Anime series a trading card game and numerous video If you came here to express your personal opinion about Pokémon please go somewhere else is a popular Japanese series of media and merchandise including Anime, Manga, Toys Video games trading card games and other Mattel Inc ( is the world's largest Toy importing company based on revenue Barbie is a best-selling fashion Doll launched in 1959 The doll is produced by Mattel Inc MycarsJPG|thumb|right|250px|Some 2008 models the Audi R8, the Porsche Carrera GT, the Mitsubishi Eclipse, and the Dodge Challenger full name, is the best-known of many simply drawn Fictional characters produced by the Japanese company Sanrio. Hummer is a Brand of Off-road vehicles sold by General Motors, also known as GM Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-billion dollar Walt Disney franchise encompassing a theme park ride a series of films Power Rangers is a long-running American Children's television series adapted from the Japanese Tokusatsu Super Sentai Series, though it Surf's Up is a 2007 American Academy Award -nominated computer-animated Mockumentary Film produced by Sony Pictures

Other uses of "Happy Meal"

• The term "Happy Meal" is also an unofficial name given to a combined Ethernet and SCSI adapter used in Sun Microsystems machines. Ethernet is a family of frame -based Computer networking technologies for Local area networks (LANs Sun Microsystems Inc ( is a multinational vendor of Computers computer components Computer software, and Information technology services ^[5] The interface name is shown as hme when one views the interfaces via the ifconfig command.

• A slang term for insanity is to say someone is Two fries short of a Happy Meal. Traditionally insanity or madness is the behaviour whereby a person flouts societal norms and may become a danger to himself and others

See also

• Burger King Kids' Club
• Burger King Children's nutritional issues

References

External links

• List of Happy Meal Toys by year
• Fast Food Toys Reference Site specializing in McDonald's
• McDonald's Mighty Kid's Meal page
• Happy Meal Wiki