Fry Guys!

In addition to things I purchase for the booth, a good deal of my merch comes from our house.  I originally started the booth because I desperately needed to declutter and really didn't want to do ebay or anything similar.  Even though I do purchase a lot of stuff to keep the merch momentum up, I'm still digging through closets, thinning collections and the like.

The other day I was on one of those decluttering missions when I found something really special:

MY FRY GUYS!

I had forgotten all about them. Honestly, I was surprised I still had them, after all these years.  I think there used to be a few more of them, but these six are all I have now.

I've been trying to research them online, but all I keep getting are links to the Happy Meal toys that came out in the late 80's.  I can't seem to find anything about these particular guys, so I'm throwing this up here, in hopes someone else might be able to chime in with more info.

Here's what I remember:

They came into my life during my senior year of high school (1982).  I'm pretty sure they weren't a Happy Meal thing, because neither my brother nor I were the right age for Happy Meals.  I'm thinking it must have been some other kind of promo thing.  We had to have gotten them out of town, because our little burg didn't have a McD's at that time.

What I remember about them was the fun we had with them.  As best I can recall, I'm the one who started it.  I hid them somewhere my mom would find them, her purse.  The change section of her pocketbook to be exact.  She came home laughing at me and mock fussing about pouring them all over the counter at the grocery store.

Soon, they turned up in one of my socks, when I was hurriedly trying to get dressed for school.

From then on, it was on.  They started turning up everywhere--pots and pans, drawers, pockets, you name it.  They hopped all over the place, from her to me and back, for  several weeks.  And then, it just kind of tapered off.

I graduated and went off to college.  During my first day or so there, I ran across this odd wad of paper in one of my suitcases.  I opened it up and there they were!  With a note that said:  "We skool too!"  I sat down and laughed and laughed.  It was totally what I needed just then to get over my homesickness and adjust to my new surroundings!

The first time I went home, I stashed them in the bathroom.  And they seemed to lay low for several weeks.

Until I came home for Christmas.  Guess who was all wrapped up under the tree waiting for me?  Yep.  (Mom had also wrapped up a bottle of shampoo and a pair of socks that I left at Thanksgiving.  She made me open all these "special" gifts first that year.  I thought I wasn't going to get any real gifts!)

After that, I kept them with me.  I'd stick them in a drawer with my pens and pencils, so I'd find them a lot and think of Mom and home and laughter.

Over the years, with moves and such, they ended up in a box, waiting to be found.  And finally, over eight months after her death, I found them.  Still waiting for me.  Still making me think about her.  God, we used to laugh together so much!

They're not going to be decluttered away.  I'm going to be holding on to them.  I stuck them in my sock and underwear drawer.  It seems appropriate.  I'll see them every day and I'll smile.


Here's the Wikipedia link to the story of the McDonalds mascots.  It's interesting reading.  Did you know they're downplaying the Fry Guys (actually now the Fry Kids) in these days of heathier lifestyles?