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Restaurant Promotion Collector consensus Photo Needed

McDonald’s Halloween Happy Meal pails with cookie-cutter lids (1992)

Year
1992 Community consensus
Restaurant
McDonald's
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About this item

The pumpkin, witch and ghost pails came back in 1992 with new cartoonish faces and lids that had a removable Halloween cookie cutter built in. The ghost no longer glowed and now had hands.

Details

Holiday
Halloween
Archive type
Restaurant Promotion
Packaging
Pail used as the Happy Meal container; each lid held a cookie cutter.
Country
US

Promotion details

Restaurant
McDonald's
When
October 1992 (U.S.)
Country
United States
Promotion type
Kids' meal toy
Known set size
3
Documented here
3 pieces
Data quality
Collector consensus: Collector references agree; no primary source yet.

The set

U.S. set (3)

Packaging & bags

Pail used as the Happy Meal container; each lid held a cookie cutter.

Commercials, ads & store materials

  • Newspaper Ad 1992 Delphos, Ohio McDonald's Halloween pail ad — Reproduced on Euclid Boo; the original paper and date were not identified.

Documented as text only. We don’t host copyrighted commercials or ad scans without permission.

Research notes

Tasting Table (2025) lumps 1992-1993 together and puts the purple witch in 1993; most collector sources say there were no pails in 1993 and put the purple witch in 1994 (see the 1994 entry). SydLexia's cookie-cutter shapes differ a little from Euclid Boo's (it lists a pumpkin, a cat and a fat ghost).

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Questions about this item

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Includes

More Halloween restaurant promotions

Sources & verification

Community Identified
  • SydLexia.com - McDonald's Halloween Pails Collector Reference Supports: First-hand recollection of a 1985 test market; names McPunky, McBoo, McJack; 1985 copyright and larger faces. No citations. Reference only: cited, never auto-verified. View source
  • A Brief History of McDonald's Halloween Buckets Press Release / Official Announcement Supports: 1986 original release; McPunk'n, McBoo and McGoblin face descriptions. View source
  • McDonald's Plastic Pumpkin Pail: The Greatest Happy Meal Toy Ever? Press Release / Official Announcement Supports: 1986 launch; cites a 1986 Halloween Pumpkin Happy Meal newspaper ad found on Newspapers.com (ad not viewed directly). View source
  • McDonald's Halloween Happy Meal 1992 Halloween Pails Collector Reference Supports: Green witch, white ghost, orange jack-o'-lantern; cat, ghost and pumpkin cookie cutters; reproduces a Delphos, Ohio McDonald's newspaper ad. Reference only: cited, never auto-verified. View source

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