A whole lot of fun for less than $4 at Old McDonalds

The Golden Arches are magnets for kids. Our daughters, 4 and 1.5 years old, see them and say, "Look Daddy! Old McDonalds!" They see the playground, the clown, other kids, and the vibrant colors. It magically draws them in. Given that we don't have cable or satellite TV, the only marketing draw mechanism is the facility itself.

Do we deny our children the delight of going in and enjoying this part of their childhood? No. We elect to talk with them about why the place seems so alluring, and then head in to have fun!

We usually start off by playing on the equipment ... spending a good 20 minutes enjoying the playground. Next stop, bathrooms to wash up. Then we buy just a few food items.

• At breakfast, we buy 2 or maybe 3 sausage biscuits at $1 a piece and get cups of water all around; we split the biscuits off and put grape jelly on them and enjoy a full meal .... this provides more than enough calories for the morning.
• Past breakfast, we will get 2 or 3 hamburgers, at $0.89 a piece, plus 1 small fry, and get cups of water all around.

We take about 15 minutes to enjoy the food, talk about the fun we are having, and get ready to play some more. We wash up again, and then re-enter the playground for another 20 minutes.

All this fun for an hour, and sustenance, is had for less than $4.... and at McDonalds! So, our kids don't "miss out", and we don't, "Spend out."