One of McDonald’s most popular and longest-lasting Halloween Happy Meal traditions returned in Oct. 2023 for the second year in a row. And we're pretty sure we can expect them again in 2024 as well. With the popularity of the McDonald's Collector Cup meals in August, we expect the nostalgia-inducing McDonald’s Halloween Buckets to return in mid-October.
Like prior years, you'll probably see several designs — like 2023's mummy, vampire, monster, and skeleton. And each McDonald’s location will have a limited supply, so if you want a bucket, act fast.
So, when will they arrive in 2024, and can you get one for free with the McDonald’s Rewards app? (Spoiler: yes, you can!) We’ve got all the answers below. And if you’re on the lookout for McDonald’s deals or ways to save at McDonald’s, we’ve got all the tricks and treats.
For more smart shopping tips and savings hacks, text HACKS to 57299.
McDonald’s Halloween Bucket Happy Meals come once per year and cost the same as regular Happy Meals.
The Halloween Bucket Happy Meals will likely become available around lunchtime (10:30 a.m.) the day they are released. You can get yours while supplies last or until the end of the month.
In the past we've seen four bucket designs. The most recent buckets were an orange Skeleton, green Monster, white Mummy, and purple Vampire.
KCL predicts the McDonald's Halloween Buckets will return on Oct. 15, 2024.
How we make our prediction.
Although the buckets disappeared for a few years, they returned on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022 and then again on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. Both were Tuesdays in mid-October. This year, the mid-month Tuesday falls right on Oct. 15.
The Halloween Buckets at McDonald’s cost the same as your regular Happy Meal, which is $5 – $7 depending on your location.
There is no extra charge for the Halloween Buckets at McDonald’s. They are included in the regular cost of a Happy Meal, which is $5 – $7 (prices vary by location and type of Happy Meal).
For example, near Pittsburgh, a 4-piece Chicken McNugget Happy Meal (comes with Apple Slices, small fries, a small drink) will cost $4.99. A hamburger Happy Meal (comes with Apple Slices, small fries and a small drink) will cost $4.69.
How you can get the McDonald’s Halloween bucket for free in 2024.
Using your free McDonald’s Rewards app, you can get a free Happy Meal (which comes with the Halloween bucket for FREE), when you redeem 6,000 points. Depending on how you are using your points, that meant you've spent around $60 at McDonald’s.
Worth noting: in 2022, the Halloween buckets came with an additional Happy Meal toy — a small Cars toy — but there was no extra toy that came with the Boo Buckets in 2023. We predict you won't see an additional toy in the 2024 buckets.
You can grab Halloween Buckets for as little as $1 at Five Below — 82% less than the McDonald’s Boo Buckets.
If your local McDonald’s runs out of Halloween buckets (or you want to grab one for cheaper), we've seen dupes for as little as $1 at Five Below or Walmart.
2023 was the second year in a row that McDonald’s Halloween buckets returned.
During Halloween as early as 1986, McDonald’s put their Happy Meals inside plastic trick or treat buckets. This essentially made the bucket the Happy Meal “toy.”
The plastic buckets with handles had a bunch of variations over the years, but the most popular featured a simple design with three faces on them.
At first, there were three orange variations: McPunk’n (with a jack-o’-lantern face), McBoo (with a ghost face), and McGoblin (with a more jagged jack-o’-lantern face). And in the nineties, Happy Meal aficionados got the Pumpkin Pails, which included an orange pumpkin, a white ghost, or a green witch.
The McDonald’s Halloween Happy Meal Buckets didn’t come with a lid in 2023.
Unfortunately, just like 2022, instead of a plastic lid, the Halloween buckets will came with a cardboard lid with stickers on the top to use as decoration for your bucket.
Based on increasing prices and shrinkflation, we predict the same for 2024.
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