The girls have been really into playing store lately. I’m all about supporting their mutual interests as long as we can do it economically and without adding a lot of junk to our ever expanding house of ‘stuff’.
We went to check out Salvation Army and see if they had these games that my husband collects (they had one that day that we managed to pick up for around $3) and we found this little McDonalds cash register. The front lock was completely torn up and the register drawer didn’t work, but I figured for $2 I’d take a shot and see what I could do with it. Here’s the simple, no cost refurb that I did on this little toy.
Once I got it home, I wiped it down with a Lysol wipe and got my little tool kit out. I pulled it apart from the bottom by removing all the screws.
The drawer was a simple mechanism and it didn’t take me long to figure out how it worked. It’s got a little lever that releases when you press the long button on the bottom (pictured on the left- it’s the white thing). The drawer is held in by tension with a rubber band and the existing band had snapped. I just went to my rubber band collection, guessed on the size, and put a new one on. That was it. Seriously. A rubber band made this work again.
After I got it working again, I set about changing how it looked. I’m not anti-McDonalds, but I refuse to let my kids have fast food play sets. I started by peeling off all the stickers. then I grabbed a roll of decorative paper tape (as it stated on the package- purchased at the dollar store) and started covering the whole thing. I ran the strips across and then used my exacto knife to cut the tape off around the buttons. (I’m the laziest person when it comes to stuff like this, I’ll take the easy way- thankyouverymuch.)
I covered the whole register (this time I was watching Orange is the New Black) and then went over the whole thing with modge podge. I let it dry overnight and then it was ready for the girls to play with.
That was it. $2 and they got a brand new fancy play cash register. They play with it everyday. Really truly they do. And I’m proud that I saved this toy from being sent to the dump just because it needed a new rubber band.
Unwittingly Domestic 