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
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
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