Surprisingly: McDonald’s Collector’s Meal Cups A Let Down

When I opened my app the other day to order some McDonald's for lunch, their Collector's Meal caught my eye. Yet, when I saw one, it was a little bit of a letdown.

If you grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, you know that most fast food joints, including McDonald's, Burger King, and Hardee's, gave away collectible glasses. Maybe it was the McDonaldland characters, or the Smurfs, or the Muppets, or characters from the hot kid's movies. The glasses were always colorful, and man you could fill it to the top with Kool-Aid and have a nice big cold drink on a hot day.

When I saw the Collector's Meal advertised on the app, I remembered those fond memories from my childhood. I also thought, cool, I might like a collector's cup or two for nostalgia. The Collector's Meal is $11.00 at McDonald's on South Limit in Sedalia, where I usually get my lunch.

The Collector's Meal is a Big Mac or a 10-piece Chicken Nugget Meal paired with the Collector's Cup. I almost got one, and then I decided against it since $11 is expensive for a fast-food lunch, especially a couple of days before payday.

Then I saw the Collector's Cup on McKenzie's desk. I was immediately glad I hadn't bought the meal because I would have been disappointed.

Why? I think those of us who grew up pestering our parents to get collector's glasses in the late 1970s and 80s assume that's what we'd be getting, especially with the price being eleven dollars. And that's not what the McDonald's Collector's Meal cups are like.

They're made of hard plastic, not glass. And they hold less liquid than the glasses they gave away in the day. While I loved the artwork, the plastic and the smallness of the cup disappointed me.

McDonald's is probably trying to tap into the nostalgia many of us feel from their old glass giveaways. However, nowhere do they promise or explicitly make it seem like you'll get a glass. Heck, they don't ever use the term glass. They use the term cup. Yet they also don't describe what you'll be getting beyond the art on the cups, and the art is cool.

I probably won't get one, not so much because it's not a cool-looking cup. For what it is, it's ok. But mostly, between the size and the fact that I tend not to use the plastic cups I have, I'm not motivated enough to spend the extra cash when I can skip the Collector's Meal and get the 10 Piece Nugget Meal or Big Mac Meal for a couple of dollars less.

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The bottom line is that if you have kids of a certain age and want them to have a similar experience to the one you had getting the glasses, it might be worth getting the Collector's Meal. If you're young at heart and looking for the same type of glasses they gave away in the late 1970s and 80s, there's a good chance you'll be disappointed.