Here's the truth about McDonald's Halloween Boo Buckets.
Happy Meal Halloween Pails are back, and they have some surprises inside.
Today is the first day that McDonald's Boo Bucket Halloween Pails are available again, and both McDonald's and its employees are getting ready for the rush of adults who will want to buy one. McBoo, McPunk'n, and McGoblin, three different characters, are all back to serve you fries and hold your (very small) Halloween candy haul.
How McDonald's is bringing back Halloween Pails
Since the McDonald's x Cactus Plant Flea Market Adult Happy Meals just came out and caused a big stir, it makes sense that McDonald's employees would be nervous about this next promotion. In a subreddit for McDonald's workers, one user wrote, "Not sure if they'll be one design at a time, but if they are, please be nice to employees. It's not good for morale that the pails are right after the cactus box."
Despite this warning, McDonald's reps say that the company is ready to handle any chaos that might happen on Halloween.
McDonald's told The Takeout via email, "We think Halloween Pails will be a hit with our fans, so we've prepared for that in close cooperation with our suppliers, distributors, and franchisees."
The subreddit for McDonald's employees also says that each location will only get one of the three pail designs each week. McDonald's told The Takeout this was true, and from what I saw at my own McDonald's (more on that in a bit), it did seem like they only had one Boo Bucket design in stock. Maybe this is to stop customers from ordering a million Happy Meals from the same place so they can get all of the Halloween pails. This change to the way things are done should be good for employees.
McDonald's told The Takeout via email that when they start new promotions or bring back old ones, they always keep the restaurant staff in mind. "We give them the training and tools they need to handle more customers in their restaurants, and we stay in close contact with our franchisees while the promotion is going on." Our restaurant staff is the best in the business, and we're grateful for all they do to serve customers not just during the holidays but all year long.
What the Halloween Boo Buckets from McDonald's are really like
Let's start by talking about the top. Where is it, to be exact? The Halloween pails looked like they had a lid in the press photos that McDonald's put out. Read on:
I guess I should have looked at that ad picture more closely. The buckets don't have a lid with a handle attached to it. Instead, the handle is attached to the bottom, and a silhouette of a lid is clipped onto the handle. In some ways, this is much more confusing than if there had been no "lid" at all.
Not only do I notice this, but so do other people. A Twitter user named @DinosaurDracula got their hands on a Boo Bucket one day early. When another Twitter user asked about it, @DinosaurDracula told them that the bucket didn't have a lid.
Putting aside the fact that it doesn't have a lid, my little McBoo is doing exactly what it should be doing. It's giving off spooky vibes and serving the tiniest fries and a basic, no-frills burger. I thought the pail would have a plastic hat or lid, but instead it has a thin, round piece of cardboard on top with Halloween stickers and a game on the back. Since these Happy Meals are made for kids, I guess it makes sense that they come with a little activity.
The bucket that McBoo comes in has three different sayings on it. It looks like these are a surprised face, a happy face, and... another happy face? The smile on one is crooked, while the smile on the other is nice and wide.
It's true that the bucket isn't big enough to carry a lot of candy from trick-or-treating—much it's smaller than a typical jack-o'-lantern bucket—but it's still cute. McBoo will always be a part of my Halloween decorations. And it could smell like french fries for the same amount of time.