Dad creates mini McDonald’s drive-thru for kids – for $50

Ronald would love that.

A single parent with a passion for fun projects created a miniature McDonald’s drive-thru for his two sons — spending less than $50 to build the backyard playground.

Architecture assistant Daniel Mills, 38, got the idea while working on a project for a local Golden Arches franchise near his home in the UK – bin-diving to find most of the material he needed to make dreams of nine years. Old man Leo and eight-year-old Zac come true.

“When they saw it, they went crazy with excitement,” Danieli said. “As a single father, it is often challenging to keep them busy. But then I noticed my shed, which was in need of some major TLC – and I had an idea.

“I thought it would be a big playhouse, and I couldn’t help but see it as a mini drive-in.” Daniel, an eager do-it-yourselfer, began by gathering wood from a blown-down fence. down on his neighbor’s property.

He repurposed materials found in a dumpster at a construction site, along with a collection of wooden slats from an old IKEA bed, then attached wheels to the bottom to make the baby-sized hamburger joint mobile.

To top it off, Mills plastered the gift to his sons on real McDonald’s signs, to make it even more real to them.

Three days later, he introduced it with considerable fanfare.

He said: “I covered it with a sheet, tore it up and straight away, they asked if they could have breakfast there. “And lunch, and dinner. “Every weekend we’ve been playing with it over and over again.

“One would stand at the hatch while the other came in with their toy car to order ‘it was fantastic,'” he recounted.

“After cooking up some hamburgers to act as an impromptu happy meal, they would sit on the picnic bench all smiles.â€

Eventually, the boys didn’t want any more chips with that – and Mills started thinking of another project, this time building them a traditional English pub playhouse, starting with a $25 used playhouse.

The drive-thru has now sold for more than $350 — far more than it cost to build — after Mills said he received 26,000 inquiries from potential buyers via social media.

“I was told by many that it was too cheap and some offered much, much more,” he said.

“As a single parent, it meant a lot to hear people call you a good boy and say how lucky the kids were.

For other dads interested in getting their kids something unique this year, Mills said she starts by thinking outside the box.

“You have to reuse and see objects differently,” he urged, noting how much of his project material was salvaged, free or found at thrift stores.

Raid your garage for half-empty paint cans, he said, find old pallets and put them to use.

“If you’re patient and willing to look around, you can probably build something for nothing,” he said.