For ’80s babies,McDonald’swas more than just a restaurant.
Plus, don’t miss20 McDonald’s Secrets Employees Don’t Want You to Know.
The fries tasted better.
SportSuburban/Flickr
Your ultimate restaurant and supermarket survival guide is here!
You got a lot of free McDonald’s during the Olympics.
“If the U.S. wins, you win.”
Photo: Shutterstock
Chicken McNuggets were all the rage.
They were so popular when they hit restaurants in 1983 that chains almost immediately had supply issues.
The prices were insanely low.
Sean Mc/YouTube
McDonald’s tried to steal Pizza Hut’s thunder.
Maybe they were just getting too big for their britches.
This 7-day smoothie diet will help you shed those last few pounds.
TheRetroTimeMachine/YouTube
McDonald’s Changeables were the best Happy Meal toys.
Hot Wheels also reigned supreme.
The Hamburglar got a much-needed makeover.
Shutterstock
The company rather menacingly named him “The Lone Jogger.”
The value pack was the best deal around.
Learn how to harness the power of tea to lose weight.
Jason Meredith/Flickr
The uniforms were iconic.
What is the worker behind the register wearing?
You came of age in the late ’80s.
VideotapeFTW/YouTube
Mac Tonight was the most soulful mascot.
There was finally a female McDonaldland character.
The best birthdays were at McDonald’s Play Places.
Daves Archives/YouTube
You couldn’t live without a Flintstones wonderland cup.
These featured all of our cartoon favorites, including The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons, and Smurfs.
They gave us joy back then, and they still do.
Kevin Noonan/YouTube
McNugget commercials were a low budget blast.
The McDLT was ingenious.
You needed the full collection of Snoopy glasses.
Beta MAX/YouTube
Grimace got his second of two makeovers.
Like the Hamburglar, Grimace was a sinister character when he first came onto the scene.
Mickey’s Birthdayland racecars felt like going to Disneyland.
SportSuburban/Flickr
If your family never went to Disneyland, this was the next best thing.
We had the professor to thank for McNugget Buddies.
You could win $1,000,000 by learning the McDonald’s menu song.
Kevin Trotman/Flickr
You had about 10 of each of the Berenstain bears toys.
In 1986, McDonald’s gave out littleBerenstain Bears figurineswith their Happy Meals.
Maybe that’s what makes them so hard to forget!
jennydacat/YouTube
Muppet Babies toys were great for racing.
TheMuppet Babies Happy Meal toyswere double the fun because each character was on a set of wheels.
They were so popular that McDonald’s re-released them in the 1990s.
iamstephen/reddit
Garfield mugs were ‘the most wanted.’
(See what he did there?)
And at just 69 cents with the purchase of a Happy Meal, they sold like hotcakes.
Retro Rabbit Ears/YouTube
Packaging was an environmental disaster.
In Officer Big Mac’s playground jail, the burger ate you.
You could hardly turn on your TV without being caught in the crossfire.
haikarate4/YouTube
campaign that debuted in 1984.
Everyone loved the Fry Kids.
The Fry Kids were, essentially, anthropomorphized pom-poms with googly eyes and sneakers.
Beta MAX/YouTube
But boy, did they somehow make sense back in the ’80s.
Halloween was all about McDonald’s pails.
Happy Meals were everything we never knew we needed.
Kevin Noonan/YouTube
Happy Meals first hit the market in 1979, and we hit peak Happy Meal-mania in the 1980s.
alligatorjuice/YouTube
DisneyVideoMagic2/YouTube
PhakeNam
45RPMemories/YouTube
Retrontario/YouTube
The Toys Channel/YouTube
Travis Doucette/YouTube
migraine_boy/reddit
mb79/reddit
Replayability/YouTube
Jeremy Noel/YouTube
SATURDAY NIGHTMARES/YouTube
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV)/YouTube
