Happy St. Patrick's Day 2008

On behalf of my pal Uncle O'Grimacey and myself, we'd like to wish you all a very Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a vintage plastic cup from the 1970s. These were given away in McDonald's around St. Patrick's Day when they were serving up Shamrock Shakes.

The beloved Uncle O'Grimacey, pictured here, was the Irish uncle of Grimace, and he would usher in the Shamrock Shakes season with all the pomp and circumstance that one would expect around McDonaldLand.

If you can still get Shamrock Shakes in your area, or if you've spotted Uncle O'Grimacey, let me know!

McDonald's Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!

To celebrate the day, I thought I'd share some old Valentines. McDonald's used to give these away over several years in the 1970s. Here are four Valentines from 1974 (or maybe 1973), making this the earliest set that I've found.

Here we have:

• Ronald McDonald
• Captain Crook
• Officer Big Mac
  
• Evil Grimace

In the early days of McDonaldLand, Captain Crook had green hair, as shown on this card. Shortly afterwards the green hair was cut to make him look more like an average pirate that you'd see on the street back then.

Also of note is the Evil Grimace. Our furry friend Grimace used to have four arms and was originally a bad guy called the "Evil Grimace". This is one of the last promotions that I've found with the four-armed version. After this, they dropped the "Evil" from his name, dropped two of the arms and made him into the more friendly-looking Grimace that most of us know.

Here are the cards. Enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Uncle O'Grimacey wishes you all a very Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Enjoy a Shamrock Shake today in honor of our furry green friend.