McDonald's item from 1989 found in backyard: 'Actually cool'

A woman has stumbled upon a unique piece of McDonald's history while raking up leaves in her friend's backyard.

The soiled and slightly damaged item appears to be from a McDonald's Happy Meal in the 1980s.

The woman from South Carolina in the US shared pictures of a little, plastic spade. Birdie the Early Bird, a McDonald's character used in commercials in the 1980s, can be seen on the handle.

She posted the pictures on Facebook and said the small shovel was "definitely cool", telling Yahoo News Australia it was discovered in a friend's garden while raking leaves.

"The house she lives in has been in the family for 20+ years," she said.

"I shared it on Facebook on her behalf because we thought it was a neat piece of childhood memories!"

She added that it says 1989 on the back, and suspects it was from a Happy Meal.

McDonald's garden find brings back memories

Heaps of people on social media were impressed with the find, which left many feeling nostalgic.

One woman said she had a very vague memory of the toy shovel and said she used it to help her mum in the garden.

Someone shared a picture of the item as it was back in the late 1980s. The shovels were originally bright orange and came with seeds for young McDonald's customer who were eager to garden.

An old ad for the McDonald's 'Little Gardener' Happy Meal was dug up by someone else on Facebook. Customers could collect a bucket, watering can and rake.

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"Back when the kids' toys were actually cool!" someone said in the comments. However, one person who remembered the spades said at the time, they thought it was the "lamest Happy Meal toy imaginable".

One person said McDonald's needed to "bring things like this back", as opposed to the "silly break-apart toys" Happy Meals come with today, more than 30 years later.

People are even selling the complete set the shovel came in. With one eBay listing in the US trying to fetch A$26.

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