Fast Food & Promotional Toys

See Also: McDonalds 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990s

It seemed like the 1980s were the heydey of fast food promotional toys. Well before the 2000s ushered in a healthy happy meal, the 80s not only filled us up with cheap, crappy (but oh so good) food, it filled our over-materialistic bedrooms and car boots with plenty of toys for dads everywhere to break their necks on in the middle of the night. Summer brought inflatables to take to the beach, spring brought garden tools to work right alongside grandparents, fall filled our McDonald’s-issued pails with fast food coupons and winter filled our stockings with premium ornaments and special toy sets for just $4.99 with the purchase of whatever else they were hawking at the time. While McDonald’s was and continues to be the granddaddy of fast-food giveaways, there were other restaurants in on the gig in the 80s too. Here’s some highlights:

 

Arby’s

1981 Little Miss character figurines: Little Miss Helpful, Little Miss Shy, Little Miss Splendid, Little Miss Sunshine, Little Miss Naughty, Little Miss Late, Little Miss Lucky, Little Miss Giggles

1981 Mr. Men character figurines: Mr. Bounce, Mr. Bump, Mr. Daydream, Mr. Funny, Mr. Greedy, Mr. Mischief, Mr. Nosey, Mr. Rush, Mr. Strong, Mr. Tickle

1987 Looney Toons characters on oval bases: Pepe LePew, Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, Tazmanian Devil

1988 Lonney Toons pencil toppers: Sylvester, Daffy Duck, Tazmanian Devil, Yosemite Sam, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird

1989 Looney Toons car set: Sylvester, Bugs Bunny, Tazmanian Devil, Roadrunner, Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck

1989 Loony Toons fun figures: Fireman Sylvester, Freshman Daffy, Pilot Taz

1989 Loony Toons holiday figures: Elf Tweety, Santa Bugs, Soldier Porky

1991 Babar’s World Tour stampers: King Babar / “Now Read this”,  Zephir / “This Book belongs to”, Rataxes / “Message from”

 

Big Boy

1984 Big Boy with hamburger figure

1990 Big Boy sports figures: Big Boy racing car, Big Boy playing baseball, Big Boy surfing, Big Boy skating

 

Little Caesar’s

1992 Little Caesar Squirter, Little Caesar Spinner, Little Caesar Ball, Little Caesar Popper, Little Caesar Roll em! Roll em!, Little Caesar Blimp! Blimp!, Little Caesar Scuba! Scuba!, Little Caesar Pepperoni Flyer, Little Caesar Knock Down, Little Caesar Pan Pipes, Little Caesar Secret Ring

 

Long John Silver’s

1986 Go-fish cars

1989 Playing card sets:  Fish Cards, Go Fish Game

1990 Sea Walkers: Tommy, Sylvia, Sydney, Quinn, Captain Flint

1990 Sea Watchers: Pirates & Parrot Prism, Ship & Fish Prism, Dolphin & Gator Prism

1990 Water Blasters: Long John Silver, Captain Flint, Billy Bones, Ophelia Octopus

 

 

 

 

Blake’s Lota Burger

1989 Grimmy figures (Mother Goose & Grimm): Dog Aid, Dog Food, Fleas on Board, Sitting, Leash, Open Arms

 

Pizza Hut

1980s  Character figures: Alien, Smiley, Little Green Man from Mars, Space Kat, Moon Man

 

Popeye’s Chicken

1980 Popeye character figures: Popeye (pink), Olive Oyl (pink), Sweet Pea (red), Brutus (blue), Wimpy (red)

 

 

Roy Rogers

1988 Snorks character figurines: various versions of Allstar, Casey, Dimmy, Tooter, etc

1989 Gator Tales plush ornaments: AV Gator (blue), Flora Gator (red), Investi Gator (yellow), Skater Gator (green)

1989 Skateboard Gang Kids: kid figurines with red, purple, orange and blue skateboards

 

Showbiz Pizza (Chuck E. Cheese’s available game prizes)

1983 Chuck E. Cheese sports: Basketball Chuck E., Football Chuck E., Baseball Chuck E.

1983 Pizza Time Theatre set: Munch, Jasper, Chuck E. Cheese, Helen

1986 Chuck E. Cheese flourescent figures: pink, orange, red, green

1986 Parachute Chuck E. Cheese figure: yellow

1986 Chuck E. Cheese 3.5″ mini discs, Chuck E. blue ribbon, Chuck E. token holder, Chuck E. pink comb, Chuck E. pink purse, Chuck E. pencil case w/water & glitter, Chuck E. viewer

1986 Chuck E. Cheese 7″ disk, Chuck E. yoyos, Chuck E. telescope, Chuck E. watch game, Chuck E. stencils, Chuck E. round ball games, Chuck E. colouring cup

1988 Chuck E. Cheese figure, Jumping Chuck E. figure, Chuck E. pencil topper, Chuck E. van, Chuck E. car, Chuck E. water ball, Chuck E. hackysack ball, Chuck E. jeep

Sonic

1989 Brown Bag Juniors character figurines: Marbles, Basketball, Reading, The Fonz

1989 Sidewalk Surfers character figurines: Mr. Big Fun, Miss Sidewalk Savvy, MEan Sidewalk Machine, Sidewalk Shoot

 

 

 

Denny’s

 

 

 

McDonald’s

Fraggle Rock character cars (Gobo, Red, Moki, Wembly) – everyone I knew had like 20 gazillion Gobos

2. Muppet Babies Christmas Dolls (Baby Kermit, Piggy and Fozzie)

3. Randy the Reindeer soft dolls (Randy and Rozz)

4. Square “Menu song” record singles – you had to put a penny on them to keep them stable on a turntable and there was a little circle printed on the vinyl to show you where to place it

5. Hallowe’en treat pails (ghost, witch and pumpkin)

6. Menu Rubix Cube

7. Menu item “transformers” – I remember having the chocolate shake and big mac ones but I can’t recall exactly how they ‘transformed’

 

Burger King

 

Pizza Hut

1. Care Bears Drink Glasses

2. Garfield Mugs

 

Dominoes Pizza

Fox’s Pizza

Little Caesar’s

Arby’s

Wendy’s

Hardees

Krispy Kreme

1. The famous paper hat

Popeye’s  (We do good ba’you)

Church’s Chicken

Chik-Fil- A

Dunkin Donuts  (Time to make the donuts)

Carvel

Friendly’s

Rax

1. Dinosaur-shaped sipper mugs

Proof of Purchase Giveaways

1. Mr.Salty Pretzel doll

2. Dole Bananimals- I recall one of these was a kangaroo that had a banana for a body and a tiny little banana baby with an embroidered face and felt ears tucked in its pouch.

3. Bazooka Gum giveaways -you sent in x amount of the gum wrapper comics and got something totally goofy

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