McDonald’s introduced the Happy Meal as a children’s menu promotion in 1979.
The Happy Meal combined a child-sized portion of food with a toy or other promotional item. It gave McDonald’s a distinct product aimed at families and made the children’s dining experience part of the company’s broader branding strategy.
The first nationwide rollout in the United States followed regional experiments and promotional tests. The contents have changed over time, but the recognizable combination of a small meal, branded packaging, and a toy remained central to the product’s identity.
The Happy Meal is sometimes dated to an earlier local promotion because McDonald’s tested children’s meal concepts before the national launch. The commonly cited company-wide introduction year is 1979.