Do McDonald's Halloween 2022 Pails Have Lids? The Buckets Are Unique
Not everyone is here for the change.
Mickey D’s stans can officially begin their spooky season celebrations, because McDonald’s beloved Halloween Happy Meal Pails finally made their highly anticipated return on Oct. 18. The bucket designs look a bit different than you remember (each bucket has three faces now!), but if you look closely, the biggest change to the pails are the lids — or lack thereof. So, do McDonald’s Halloween 2022 pails actually have lids? Here’s what you need to know about the unique bucket design.
McDonald’s Halloween pails were last available in 2016, so if you need to be reminded why you loved the themed buckets so much, here’s a quick refresher. During the Halloween season, the festive buckets take the place of the standard Golden Arches box when you order a Happy Meal, so you can carry around your order like it’s a coveted trick-or-treating haul. The designs up for grabs this year include a green pail with a witchy face (McGoblin), a white bucket with a ghostly smile (McBoo), and a seriously scary jack-o-lantern (McPunk’n).
McPunk’n and McBoo each come with a pumpkin-shaped topper, and McGoblin’s witch status is secured with a witch hat atop the bucket. On first glance, it looks like the toppers are meant to be a matching lid. But don’t count on it to help keep your Chicken McNuggets warm, because it turns out the lids are actually an illusion.
The official @mcdonaldscorp Instagram account totally myth-busted the existence of the lids on Oct. 11, when the account posted a Reel that left McDonald’s fans shook. The video — which gives a 360-degree view of seven Halloween bucket designs released between 1986 to present day — clearly shows the toppers on the 2022 pails aren’t meant to physically cover the bucket opening. Instead, the lids are immovable and attached to the bucket handles, only covering a tiny sliver of the Halloween Pail. It’s basically like choosing fashion over function.
The design change came as a shock to fans, especially because the video shows the 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1999 versions of the buckets came with a handle and a functional lid. Halloween Pail purists had no choice but to take to the comments section on TikTok to voice their design concerns. TikToker @fullstop_ commented, “Please please please bring the old lids back” with three crying face emojis.
Another fan, @bubbadude4 on TikTok chimed in, writing, “Aweww heck nah, y’all did not just disrespect us like that. Where’s that LID!!!!!” Yikes.
The comments section on Instagram wasn’t much better — IG user @aydinxb wrote, “So disappointed with the new lids :/”, while @erizabit said what everything else was thinking: “I’m v confused by the lack of lid.”
Though the handle designs might seem like an unexpected change for the classic pails, this isn’t the first time McDonald’s has used the handle designs on the buckets. According to the Reel, the Halloween Pails from 2001 came with a black bat attached to the handles. Still, the OG pails are a nostalgic childhood memory for a lot of people, so it makes sense why fans were caught so off guard by the design choice.
If the missing lids aren’t a deal breaker for you, you can score your Halloween Happy Meal Pails at participating locations while supplies last. But if the craze surrounding the recent Cactus Plant Flea Market box is any indication, you should probably plan on making a McDonald’s run ASAP.
