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A "Happy Meal" is a meal specially tailored for children, sold at McDonald's since 1979. A toy to lure children is typically included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a small box with the McDonald's logo.
Happy Meals consist of three parts:
In some locations the choices have been expanded to included a grilled cheese sandwich as one of the options.
In the United Kingdom (and possibly other countries too), McDonald's has introduced a "healthy option" to the Happy Meal - children can now choose to have a fruit juice drink instead of soda, and bags of dried fruit (or a whole piece of fruit such as an apple) in place of fries.
To make the term internationally recognizable McDonalds uses now the term "Happy Meal" in all countries, before that it was different in some countries. For example, in Canada, the analogous promotion was call the "Treat of the Week."
Happy Meal toys have gotten increasingly elaborate in recent years. While initially they were little more than a cheap plastic trinket such as a frisbee or ball, they have since evolved into much more sophisticated toys, many of which are a tie-in to some existing toy line or contemporary motion picture. Past examples of recent Happy Meal toys have included Ty Beanie Babies, Mattel Barbie and Hotwheels, and toys based on many Disney cartoons.
Initially buying the toy separately from the meal was discouraged, although this is now a fairly common and accepted practice, with "toy" now appearing on the menu.
International differences
The name of the meal differs internationally. In Japan, it was called Okosama Lunch from 1987 to 1988, then Okosama Set from 1988 to 1995 (Okosama is a polite word for "child"). It has been Happy Set ever since.
Toys differ. In Japan, unique toys were offered from 1987 to 1996.
See Also: Mighty Kids Meal
Criticism
The meal is specifically designed for children and the advertisement promoting is targeted at children. A recent study has shown that this pattern in the fast food industry is directly related to increased obesity in adolesents.
The term Happy Meal is also a name given to an ethernet adapter used in Sun Microsystems machines. The interface name is shown as hme when one views the interfaces via the ifconfig command. See also Big Mac.
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