Our house often resembles a small toy store (although a messy one at that). I contemplate throwing out 99% of the stuff my kids own because I can’t stand the mess, the piles and the unloved, forgotten toys. The one ‘toy’ I can’t get enough of for my boys is books. While we have hundreds and hundreds of books piled up on shelving, they all go to good use. I firmly believe in the importance of reading books together with your children and out of all of the parenting advice that I’ve received, it’s the one that always spoke to me and made so much sense. Not only does it help kids become better at reading themselves, but the bonding and quality time spent together is priceless.
Enjoying a coffee and book break at the launch event!
That’s why I was so excited to find out that McDonald’s is now offering a choice of a book or toy with Happy Meals! What a great opportunity to grow your home library and to help promote your child’s love for reading. I also know that my boys will probably pick this option the majority of the time as they love collecting books. Not to mention, the books offered through this program include some of my kid’s favourites such as Franklin and Scaredy Squirrel. We are already reading the first two books released (Hurry Up, Franklin and Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach) on repeat every night before bed!
#HappyMealBooks
Every eight weeks, two new books will be available in both English and French and all Happy Meal books are written by Canadian authors! I thought that the All-Day-Breakfast announcement was the best thing, but this news just beat that!
Hanging with Franklin at the launch event a few weeks back!
McDonald’s Canada also teamed up with First Book Canada, which provides new books to kids in need, for a new great program. Whenever you post a #Shelfie (a picture of your book shelf) to social media, and use the hashtag #OwnABookGiveABook, McDonald’s will donate a book to kids, up to 20,000 books in total. So get snapping and sharing!
My 2 year old’s #shelfie #ownabookgiveabook
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by McDonald’s Canada as part of the #HappyMealBooks program. In exchange for this post, I have received perks in the form of products and/or compensation. All opinions on this blog are my own.
I worked on some of the market research for this 🙂 I’m so glad they’re doing this!
Such a great campaign – we loved the books last year and can’t wait to collect them this year.
Bella is loving the new book option with her Happy Meals. Every time we are going to Walmart she reminds us McDonalds is there and we need to get a Happy Meal with a book.
I have such fond memories of going to McDonald’s for a treat as a kid, and am happy to continue the tradition with my kiddos! My son shares my passion for their fries! We saw the book or toy choice at our last visit! I tried to convince him to get a book but he spied the Beanie Boos! Next time maybe I’ll distract him and get the book. The truth is, the Beanie has been neglected since he brought it home, but a book would be getting a lot of attention still!
I think it is great that they now have the option of getting a book. I know my niece has been picking a book the last couple times they have gone. She likes adding new books to her bookcase.