A Brief History of McDonald’s Halloween Buckets
Alyse Wax
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Virtually everyone has memories of getting McDonald’s Happy Meals when they were a kid. With me, it was a special treat: if I didn’t fuss at the doctor’s office or if my parents were going out for the evening. The excitement over the Happy Meal directly correlated to the toy of the month. One of the most iconic Happy Meals of the 1980s was the Halloween pails. It wasn’t a toy, and they were far too small for actual trick-or-treating, but they were great for storing toys or candy or other goodies, and there was something about them that just screamed Halloween.
The first Halloween pails were released in 1986. They resembled classic orange pumpkin buckets and came in three styles: McPunk’n, a traditional jack-o-lantern face; McBoo, a ghostly face; and McGoblin, the “scariest” of the three. The pumpkin pails were so popular they were reissued the following year. The pails were on hiatus in 1988, but returned with a complete remodel in 1989.
The 1989 pails were no longer all pumpkins. McBoo returned, with a slightly adjusted face, and he came with two new friends: McGhost and McWitch. The ghost didn’t really look like a ghost: it was the same pumpkin-like shape, but white and with a generic, “ghostly” face. McWitch was green, with a spider nesting in her hair. She also came with a pointed witch’s hat lid.
The pails saw a minor makeover in 1990. McWitch got a new face, and McGhost glowed in the dark, which instantly made up for an otherwise average design. The pails took another hiatus in 1991 and were replaced with McBoo bags: cheesy, cartoony vinyl bags with images of a ghost, a witch, or Frankenstein’s monster. The pails returned the following year with a major update.
The pumpkin pail was redesigned to be closer to McPunk’n than McBoo. McWitch got a nose, and McGhost no longer glowed in the dark. Instead, he had hands. The biggest change came in the form of the lids: all three had a cookie cutter in the lid.
There were no pails in 1993, and when they returned in 1994, there was an attempt to “modernize” them with more frenetic designs. The ghost pail had a whole scene on it, the witch was purple, and the pumpkin has a strangely drunken look. Another hiatus lasted until 1999, when the pails returned, but no longer did they have the faces on them. This time there were only two pails, one orange and one white. Both had wrap-around images of the McDonald’s characters having a wacky adventure.
In 2001 the cookie cutter lids were gone, because the lids were gone altogether. You still had the option of a white or orange bucket, with new images of the McDonald’s characters cavorting. These buckets didn’t even try to look like pumpkins. The pails returned in 2010, themed with Mr. Potato Head. The 2011 pails were somewhat of a return, offering a pumpkin or a monster. The following year, the pails were Scooby-Doo themed, and in 2013 they were Monster High-themed. The 2014 pails were a tie-in with The Book of Life, a Day of the Dead-themed animated movie. Next came a Minions-themed set of buckets. The final year of Halloween buckets came with 2016’s It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown-themed pails.
Since 2016, McDonald’s hasn’t had a Halloween pail. In fact, they have barely even celebrated Halloween: 2017 saw My Little Pony and Transformers masks, while 2018 and 2019 just had generic Pokemon and Hello Kitty toys. Luckily, corporate ignorance can never take away our memories.
Source: SydLexia.com and EuclidBoo.com
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