How do you make the most of family time?: introducing the new McDonald’s “Every Minute Counts” widget

This is a sponsored post from BlogHer and McDonald's.

This is the second and final part of our McDonald’s trip review and I’m excited to talk about family time and charity. Y’all know that TubaDad travels quite a bit for work. Oh so much traveling… So when he’s back in town we do the happy dance and make THE MOST of our family time. We’re not picky about what we do, as long as we do it together. Seriously, the tiniest little things make us grin. Like giving each other makeovers with cheap Claire’s makeup the other day. Oh man this made us laugh (and yes, we took the girls out of the house looking like that).

  

 

We hang out together and do slightly more conventional family time activities too:

• Traveling at the drop of a hat: say it with me, ROADTRIP!! 
• Listening to music (lots of tuba, of course), dancing, and singing
• Playing at parks, amusement parks, or the beach
• Watching movies
• Or just hanging out in the backyard or the pool

   

Yeah, we enjoy spending time together. That’s probably not a shocker to anyone reading this, is it? Heh. Now, though, there’s a simple way to turn this family time into a charity donation. We learned about this when our family visited McDonald’s corporate headquarters and a Ronald McDonald House Charity^® back in June, and were all pretty psyched for them to roll it out. Here’s the deal: McDonald’s has just introduced a new online tool to promote family time and raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities^® (RMHC^®). Basically, this widget collects family-time pledges. And McDonald’s will donate 1 penny to RMHC® for every minute of time a person pledges to spend with his/her family, with the goal of reaching 1-million minutes. This widget is part of a new national fundraiser the company launched that also includes their Happy Meals. For each Happy Meal® and Mighty Kids Meal® sold in the U.S., a portion of the sales will be donated to RMHC – McDonald’s “Charity of Choice” for more than 35 years.

Now you might be thinking (like me), that a penny is a teeny amount that won’t make any difference. But these pennies and minutes add up fast. Last year, those little spare-change-donation boxes that you see on the counter of every McDonald’s raised nearly $20 million for local RMHC Chapters. Not bad! So make a family-time pledge today, and feel good about spending time with your family and helping charity. Shoot, do what we’re going to do and tell your kids about the RMHC and get them to pledge what they’d like to do as a family.

The giveaway: 

One winner will be chosen to win a McDonald’s Family Fun Prize Pack, which includes a McDonald’s smile tote bag, surprise set of Happy Meal toys, $25 McDonald’s Arch card (can be used for any purchase at a McD’s), McDonald’s Vintage Character T-Shirt, Pen-Buddy notebook, Organic Lip Balm, McDonald’s Stainless Tumbler, and a Just-Give gift card for any charity of the winner’s choice.

To enter the giveaway, pledge family time on the McDonald's “Make Family Time Happy Time” widget (above) and let us know what you pledged in the comment section for a chance to win! (You don’t have to sign up, register, or give any identifying info in the widget.) We’d also love to hear if you have a favorite family memory tied to McDonald’s.

1. Giveaway opens at 9:00 a.m. (PST) August 11, 2010 and closes at 5:00 p.m. (PST) August 24, 2010.
2. To get one extra entry, either blog or tweet about this promotion and leave an additional comment with the url of your tweet or blog post (two entries allowed per person).
3. You can view the BlogHer.com special offers page for 9 more chances to win or to read their awesome reviews.
4. Check out the full text of the official rules.
5. Entries/comments must be on topic and not offensive or derogatory.

UPDATE AT 5pm 8/24/10 – THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. I’LL DRAW A WINNER TOMORROW. THANKS!!