Vintage Happy Meal Toy Ornaments

Do you have a tote full of vintage Happy Meal toys? No? Oh, surely I’m not the only one that saved these things for the last 35 years! Today, I have such an easy project for you—Vintage Happy Meal Toy Ornaments. Bonus! You can do this project with new action figures as well. My daughter Jamie made some and that’s how I learned about this easy project. I’ll show you hers at the end of this post.

 

 

 

 

Vintage Happy Meal Toys

These are the toys stored in the basement. A couple of years ago, my daughter and her husband went through the entire stash and took all the ones that were special to them from their childhood. BUT, I still have a lot left!

These are my test subjects to see if I can really make happy meal toy ornaments.

Clean Thrift Store Toys

First, I had to get years of grime off of the happy meal toys. I simply soaked them in some dishwater, then dried them off. If you get your vintage action figures at the thrift store, you will definitely want to clean them up.

 

Use a Pushpin or an Awl

First was the mouse. I’m thinking he’s mighty mouse? Or I guess he could be Mickey. (when you type that name, you can’t HELP but sing the song—M I C K E Y)

You may notice that I cut the small suction cup from his feet. Jamie used an awl for her project, but I don’t have one—so I used a pushpin!! It was perfect for the tiny holes I need for my small screw eyes.

Secure Screw Eye into Action Figures

After making the tiny hole, I twisted the screw eye into the back of the toy. I just googled it, and apparently this is Mighty Mouse from Wendy’s kid’s meal.

Add Ribbon for Hanging

Then, I added some ribbon to hang the cute little fella on the Christmas tree.

Pay Attention to Placement of Screw Eye

Next up, was this little elephant, which I’m guessing might be Dumbo? The top right image shows the first placement of the eye hook.

On the bottom left, you can see that it is not properly balanced while hanging. I removed the eye hook, and sort of smushed the hole closed with the blade of my scissors. The image in the middle shows how the previous hole is no longer visible. On the right is the happy meal toy ornament with the proper placement of the eye hook.

This is by far the most challenging part of this project—making sure the toy ornament hangs properly. I had to move the eye hook on the Garfield toy as well. This is the correct placement. Originally, I had the screw hook lower on his back. Again, I was able to make the original hole barely visible.

Happy Meal Toys as Ornaments

You may notice, there is one I pulled from the basement that I didn’t use. The yellow dog was very hard plastic, and unable to accept a pushpin. So, let that be your guide when you’re choosing the happy meal toys you want to use to make ornaments.

These are the same screw eyes I used on my Spindle Ornaments.

 

Have you seen the show Bluey? Jamie and Eli (well, mostly Jamie I think) love watching Bluey. So she bought these Bingo and Bluey characters and turned them into ornaments. As soon as she did, I knew exactly what today’s craft was going to be! I’m staying close to home and not going into stores unnecessarily, so that’s why I shopped my basement for my play set figures.

A Little More about Bluey

It’s sweet wholesome t.v. – Something we could all use a little more of these days!! You can watch Bluey on Disney Plus.

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Tips for Making Action Figures Ornaments

If you have little girls, just think of the Barbie ornaments you could make. I got my eye hooks from The Wooden Teddy Bear. You can find screw eyes on Amazon and get them in just a couple of days.

When I first started adding the eye hooks, I used my finger and thumb. But that started hurting, so I grabbed for my antique needle nose pliers.

Remember, it’s all about balancing the weight so your happy meal toy or action figures hangs properly.

Will you be making some of these this month?

gail