FTC Disclaimer: This post has been sponsored by Central Arkansas McDonald’s. All thoughts are 100% my own.
If you’ve been following along with my blog for at least the past 1.5 years, you have probably noticed that I am a brand ambassador for Central Arkansas McDonald’s. I realized recently that I never explained exactly why I decided to take this step with my blog. So, I thought that now is as good a time as any to do that. So here goes…
Reason #1: We Love the Food
This is probably obvious. My son and I are big fans of McDonald’s. It’s one of our favorite places to go for a quick, tasty meal. The food is affordable. They have a great variety of options that my son (who is a notoriously picky eater) approves of. They also make it easy for you to make healthy choices, such as the Southwest Grilled Chicken salad, the Egg White Delight McMuffin, and the Fruit & Maple Oatmeal. For kids, they have the options to add Go-Gurt or Apple Slices to their Happy Meals. Oh, and of course, he LOVES the Happy Meal toys.
Reason #2: We Love the PlayPlace
In addition to loving the food, we also often meet up with friends. I have a lot of mommy friends in the area and the McDonald’s PlayPlace is a popular option for playdates – especially when the weather is too hot, cold or rainy for us to play outdoors. The kids have a fun meal and then go off to play while us moms chat, hang out and get in some big people conversation.
Another reason we go to McDonald’s so often is so that I can get some work done. I work from home as a freelance writer. Christian is also homeschooled. We do playdates and other activities that get us out of the house for HIM, but sometimes I want a change of scenery for ME. On those days, I pack up my laptop and we head to our closest McDonald’s. We grab something to eat and then Christian goes to play in the PlayPlace. While he is playing, I use McDonald’s free wi-fi to get some work done. We usually stay for about two hours (how long our playdates last), which is long enough for him to play and make new friends while I knock some stuff off my to-do list. Everyone wins!
Chri
Reason #3: We Love the Fun Events
Christian and I love any opportunity to do fun, new things and hang out with cool people. As a Central Arkansas McDonald’s brand ambassador, I’ve had the opportunity to bring Christian along to several fun events.
We visited the Coca Cola Exhibit at the Clinton Presidential Library. It was really cool seeing the history of the company. They had a lot of marketing materials on display. I loved seeing how they have changed over the years. The entrepreneur and budding graphic designer in me was fascinated. It was also neat seeing the many different bottle designs they have had.
We get to see a lot of Ronald McDonald. We have seen him at story time at the library, where he reads a story and does magic tricks. One time Christian was pulled on stage to serve as Ronald’s magic assistant. He loved that! In fact, he just plain old loves Ronald McDonald. He says that Ronald is his favorite character. In fact, whenever we see him, Christian practically leaps into his arms.
We attended a costumed pancake breakfast where Christian latched onto Batman. Then we had the opportunity to take a tour of the new Ronald McDonald House in Little Rock before it opened. Christian’s favorite part was seeing Ronald again, but I really loved seeing how much care and effort was being put into making families feel comfortable during a tough time in their life. My brother was born with a chronic illness, so I remember spending a lot of time in the hospital. I appreciate the work that Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas does to make things a bit easier on the families of sick children.
We attended Springfest with my mom, where McDonald’s was handing out samples of their tasty smoothies. We also got to see the amazing Jesse White Tumblers, who came down from Chicago to perform.
Most recently, we attended our very first baseball game. We watched the Arkansas Travelers play against the Tulsa Drillers, watched a fun game where teams competed to win a year’s worth of FREE Signature Crafted Sandwiches, and even shot some footage for a McDonald’s video talking about the Frork.
This last part was really exciting for Christian, whose dream is to be a famous YouTuber, lol. Seeing the video on the McDonald’s YouTube channel was a thrill for him. You can check out the video below. Christian has three cameos.
So, there you have it! These are the three reasons that I love being a Central Arkansas McDonald’s brand ambassador. Just writing this post and looking back on the past 1.5 year’s worth of pictures makes me feel like this was a good decision for my family.
By the way, have you entered the McDonald’s Summer Slushie Sweepstakes? The grand prize is a trip to Houston to see the Houston Astros play at Minute Maid Park on June 30th! The prize also includes a two-night stay at the Marriott and a gift card for travel money. You can enter for a chance to win from now until June 17th at the Summer Slushie Sweepstakes website.
