All monies raised will be donated to charities related to the disaster. In the US Happy Meals have been available since 1977. Hundreds of millions of Happy Meal items have been produced. These items are given away free to customers purchasing the children's Happy Meal, and are often called premiums.
Some items are also available to buy, and some are available free such as flags and place mats.
As McDonalds expanded outside the US, Happy Meals and other memorabilia began to be available elsewhere such as in the UK, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. There is now an enormous amount of material for the avid collector to acquire, with variations and country specific items adding to this variety. The quality of the Happy Meal toys and packaging has always been recognised, and in recent years a growing number of licenses have been granted giving the McDonalds collector more variety than ever. It has been noted that a good promotion will attract a lot more parents through the door with children. Two well publicised 'Teenie Beanie Baby' promotions in the US created a huge amount of interest, in the first a 100 million toys sold out in two weeks, the second was even more popular.