Kids Meals and the kid in me.

Arthur was just a toddler when I became familiar with the Happy Meal and the toy that came with it. She was two years old and Happy Meals had been around only four years or so, but they were the biggest and best thing that could happen to a single mom on a shoestring budget who wanted to treat her child to a fast food meal every now and then. The best part at the time was the fact that at two, she couldn't eat the whole thing, so we split it half & half! So it was really a treat for both of us.

The Happy Meal consisted of a small hamburger, small order of french fries and a tot-sized soft drink. Oh, and don't forget the 'prize'...usually a really cheesy toy of some sort. Arthur was quite pleased with the little books, Frisbees, balls and figurines that come with the meal; at least for a few minutes.

Over the years, the toys in the Happy Meal box improved with quality and often tied in with the current popular children's movie or TV character. I can remember Disney characters galore, My Little Pony and miniature Barbies with hair.

Not long after Mickey Dee's introduced the Happy Meal, other fast food restaurants came out with their own versions of the kid's meal with toy or prize. With the exception of Burger King, I must say the competition was quite disappointing. I hate to admit to giving in to advertising ploys, but I really hated getting those four page paperback books from Arby's and the coloring book with two crayons from DQ. I'd much rather get the wind up toy designed after the Disney characters.

By the time Courage came around, the Happy Meal toy was quite sophisticated. I'll never forget the Mini Beanie Baby craze. We had never eaten so much McD's before in our lives before they started including those little plush phenoms in the bag. We even had the Hubby eating at McD's - something he just didn't do! He would come home with several a week. What a dad won't do for his daughters!

My all time favorite were the McNuggets complete with Halloween Costumes. There is a Frankenstein, a Mummy, a Dracula, a Clown and several other out-of-this-world cute costumes. I put them out every Halloween for the memories and because they are so darned cute!

These days, McD's has improved it's Happy Meal choices (you can now have apple slices instead of fries, or low fat milk instead of soft drinks). The toy continues to be high quality and collectible. The other fast food restaurants have come a long way also. They have included healthier options for kids and improved the quality of their prizes. And thank God in Heaven, they all have increased the size of the kids meal soft drink to at least the size of a former small adult drink.

I am a BIG KID. I am 47 years old and partly because I am still a big kid and partly because I like to try to watch my calorie intake; I mostly order kids meals when I eat fast food.

I used to be so embarrassed to go through the drive-thru at McD's or Burger King and order a kids meal when I was alone. I felt like I was cheating and I felt like the person at the window would judge me...thinking I was too cheap or too poor to purchase a grown-up meal. The truth is...sometimes that was absolutely the truth (especially the poor part!). But mostly, I just like the smaller portions and the toy!

Yesterday I accompanied my parents to a doctors appointment and afterwards my dad wanted to eat at Checkers. I panicked at first because I didn't think there was ANYTHING on the Checkers menu I could eat and remain on my diet. But alas...they have a kids meal! So I got the hamburger kid's meal, no cheese, with fries and Diet Coke. I ate all the hamburger, maybe a total of 6 french fries and drank almost all of the drink. And I got a toy. As I fished around for it in the bottom of the bag, my dad remarked that that was the only reason I had ordered a kids meal, was to get the toy. I could only grin. Well, he is the one who said I'd always be just a kid to him.