McDonald’s introduced its first Happy Meal in 1979.
The children’s meal was designed as a branded package containing a hamburger or other main item, a portion of fries, a drink, and a toy. Its consistent box design and collectible toys made the meal an important part of McDonald’s family-oriented identity.
The Happy Meal was not the first children’s promotion associated with McDonald’s. Earlier regional ideas helped shape the concept, including a children’s meal created by advertising executive Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño in Guatemala. McDonald’s then developed and introduced the standardized Happy Meal in the United States in 1979.
The name refers to the branded meal package, not to a particular toy series. Toys and menu contents have changed repeatedly across countries and decades.