The Freebie Toy War

There's a monthly food war in this household.  And more often than not... the toys win.

My boys buy McDonald's Happy Meals and Jollibee Kid's Meals because of the toys.  The meals that come with them ARE the freebies.

I think McDonald's knows this and embraces it.  It has brilliant toys.  Sturdy, long-lasting ones.  And it almost always ties up with the coolest movie of the moment in all authentic quality.

Jollibee does that, too.  But there would be times when it would stray.  During those instances, the kids' meal would come with some lame washing machine toy, a pathetic Jollibee mascot toy that not all kids find adorable, or some movie toy that somehow looks fake.

Oh and don't get me started on toughness.  Kids' toys in general should be built to withstand wear and tear and tantrums galore.  Jollibee's toys don't meet that challenge quite as much as McDonald's.

What the toy does is a big plus.  Both fast food joints meet head to head on this, but I'm taking Jollibee's side here.  I like it that usually the Happy Meal would have movie toys that, at a push of a button, would say popular lines from the movie.  The Kid's Meal toys' strength is on usability.  They would have TV show toys that double as sharpeners, stampers, pencils, sticker dispensers.  And being the queen of value-for-money, that's way awesome to me.

Now what about the food?  McDonald's wins that fight, too.  My boys find its fries just a bit crunchier and juicier, and the spaghetti, meatier and tastier.
So whenever Jollibee comes out with a better toy, we go out and buy some Jollibee Kid's Meal (and when I say 'some', I mean until we get to collect all the toys available for that particular monthly theme --and they're a lot!), and then swing by McDonald's to get Happy Meals for dinner.  That's paying double!
And that is when the queen of value-for-money... fails.

This is why I'm happier when McDonald's Happy Meal wins the war.  Thank goodness it usually does.