Living across the street from a McDonald’s, it’s hard for Tanesha Baldwin to get her three-year-old son Kai to stop thinking about it.
But his constant demands for a Happy Meal were unaffordable and she decided to be a little smarter.
The clever mum cooked her own food, put it in old packaging and even used some of his forgotten toys to make him think he was having something from his favourite fast-food restaurant.
The mum, from Virginia, U.S., would even sneak out and ring her own doorbell so he thought it was being delivered.
Tanesha, 33, bought a bulk bag of three dollar chicken nuggets, one dollar fries and one of Kai’s old ‘forgotten’ toys packed in recycled packaging and the youngster couldn’t tell the difference.
She said: ‘Every day he’s asking me for McDonald’s because it’s right across the street and he loves it there, he’s such a fan.
‘The last time we had it I thought I’d keep the packaging because I knew he’d ask for it so I made it in the kitchen while he was playing with his toys.
‘I ran downstairs and rang the doorbell and told him the delivery was here and he was so happy and couldn’t tell the difference.
‘He just kept thanking me.’
Before, she was spending around £15 per week treating her son to his favourite meal and is now looking forward to saving money with her clever trick.
She said: ‘He really loves it at McDonald’s, we go two or three times per week, we go for breakfast sometimes because he loves the sausages muffins and then for dinner.
‘I’d bought a pack of 40 chicken nuggets, one dollar fries and just used one of his old toys and he didn’t have a clue.
‘I’ve also started buying a couple of toys from the dollar tree so I can use those as well and it really saves some money.
‘He couldn’t tell the difference and didn’t care.’
Tanesha shared photos of Kai posing with his homemade treat and the post has since gone viral, racking up over 133,000 shares.
Tanesha said: ‘I just said lets take a photo and send to grandma, I never expected the photos to go so viral.
‘I like to post about my son and things we’re doing and people say we’re so fun and should have a YouTube channel but I don’t have time for that.
‘I posted it on the Sunday and didn’t think twice about it, when I woke up the next day all my friends were saying I’d gone viral.
‘I was just wondering what had happened, I was everywhere.
‘I think thousands of mums will be doing the same thing now.’
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