The following is an online extra from our July 2024 issue.
It’s hard to imagine in this age of renting hotel rooms so that kids can have poolside parties and hiring companies to set up elaborate bounce houses for backyard celebrations, but 40 or 50 years ago, having a birthday at McDonald’s was considered indulgent. Back in the day, it cost about $50 for the Mickey D’s crew to decorate, plan games and provide food, and if you were lucky, have Ronald McDonald himself come out to serve the cake and ice cream. I went to a McDonald’s birthday party when I was 8. It was one of the best days of my young life.
McDonald’s was a different place in the late 1970s and early ’80s. This was the era of hard selling to kids via quirky, catchy commercials with iconic characters — remember the Hawaiian Punch kid and the Kool Aid man? McDonald’s fantasy-world cast included Captain Crook and the Hamburglar as relentless burger thieves, with the bumbling Officer Big Mac and Mayor McCheese foiling their plans and returning purloined patties to hungry kids, busily playing on swings and slides shaped like all of those characters. We lost our minds over the Fry Kids, set up like concierges on metal springs, welcoming all to the mini park. By the ’90s, most of the outdoor playgrounds were gone, but inside, the fun continued at the Playland, an indoor playroom.
In the dining room, eye-watering aromas of dehydrated onions mixed with cigarette smoke were infused into hard plastic swivel stools molded like hamburgers, each with its own thin aluminum ashtray resting in the center of the table. Smoking in restaurants, and everywhere else, was a part of life in the ’80s. Kids tinked quarters into the cookie box by the register. The soft serve machine actually worked.
A McDonald’s staff member, or “party host,” started a game that consisted of dropping straws into a cup on the floor from waist height. We picked the pickles off of our burgers and wiped soft, sugary birthday cake icing from our cheeks. A crew member lit candles on the chocolate cake, and we sang, surrounded by yellow and red balloons that clung to our hair, static-electricity-charged by the polyester in our clothes.
As magical as McDonald’s is to kids in 2024, with its famous order campaigns (RIP, Cardi B/Offset collaboration) and the Loch Ness Monster McDonald’s meal available this summer, it doesn’t come close to matching the excitement of Ronald’s house back in the day, when inside PlayPlaces and separate party rooms dominated the golden arches.
According to Coleman Bishop, third-generation owner/operator of eight McDonald’s restaurants in the Tri-Cities and Chester areas under the TCB Management umbrella, the height of the McDonald’s birthday party was in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Bishop explains that then, “a [vintage] birthday package consisted of 10 Happy Meals, ice cream, party favors, a special gift for the b-day child, plus balloons, games, and decorations. The Playland [now called PlayPlace] seating was reserved for 1.5 hours for the party. But, as restaurants were remodeled, many inside Playlands were removed. Regulations changed with what type of toys were allowed. Electronic games became more popular.”
The fast food birthday party has never gone away, though its numbers have dwindled. “I started in the business in 1996 as a crew member, so in the late ’90s and early 2000s, we could have had between four and up to 10 birthday parties in a given week,” Bishop says. That number was a significant decrease from previous years.
Christina Dick, founder of Tiramisu for Breakfast, a Richmond-based, social-media-focused marketing and PR strategic consulting firm that counts McDonald’s as a client, cites Grimace’s 50th birthday last year as a factor in renewing interest in the chain’s dining room parties. Last June’s festivities included the launch of Grimace’s Birthday Meal with a sweet purple shake, a Grimace video game, limited-edition clothing and visits from Grimace, “your fuzzy purple bestie” himself. One day, Dick drove from Waynesboro to Virginia Beach to ensure that Grimace’s costume made it to the party on time.
Bishop says he still allows birthday parties at all of his locations if requested in advance. His Hopewell restaurant, at 5214 Oaklawn Blvd., has both a party room and a PlayPlace and holds up to 15 children. The 11-by-17-inch birthday cakes are available in chocolate and vanilla and are included in the $75 party fee, which covers a meal for the birthday child, balloons, cups, party favors and coloring pages, as well as cleanup. His Hopewell play area has a small slide, toys and electronic games. Individual meals are priced separately.
But if any store has a PlayPlace,” Bishop says, “we offer seating reservations as well. Customers may host their own party or have a host employee handle everything needed. The pricing and offerings vary by store.”
All of the Richmond McDonald’s franchises are locally owned, with owner/operators serving with Bishop on the TCB Management board. Though operators meet to keep service cohesive, pricing and availability of birthday parties is up to the individual owner/operator.
In the Richmond area, the franchise at 9210 Midlothian Turnpike has both a PlayPlace and a separate, glass-enclosed party room, which can be reserved for a two-hour party. Birthday parties at this location (at least two days’ notice required) include decorations, a party host that sets up and cleans up the party room, Happy Meals, and birthday cake and ice cream for $12.99 a head. They also offer parties at $5.99 that include meals and decorations but allow customers to bring in their own cake and serveware.
