McDonald’s is bringing back Boo Buckets on October 20 with five new Disney villains designs, adding a fresh round of Halloween collectibles to Happy Meals for a limited time. The 2026 set features Scar, Cruella, Ursula, Jafar and Maleficent, each turned into a bucket with its own illustration and sticker sheet.
That makes the return easy to spot on the calendar and harder to predict in stores. The buckets are tied to Happy Meal purchases at participating locations, but McDonald’s is only saying they will be available while supplies last, not how many of each design will be made or whether every bucket will be equally easy to find.
For fans, the timing matters because the Halloween item is back after years of stop-and-start availability. Boo Buckets first debuted in 1986 as Halloween Pumpkin Happy Meals with three pumpkin-shaped pails, then disappeared after 2016 before returning in 2022. This is the first movie-themed set since that relaunch, and it leans on a familiar formula: collectible packaging, themed art and a short sales window that can push customers to act quickly.
McDonald’s has used the Boo Buckets to tap into nostalgia before, with past designs tied to Mr. Potato Head, Scooby-Doo, Monster High, Minions and Peanuts. The 2026 version keeps the same yellow handle and Golden Arches detail across all five buckets, but the character art and sticker sheets are unique to each movie, giving the set a more specific Halloween identity than earlier releases.
The unanswered part is not whether the buckets are coming. They are. The question is how long they will remain easy to find once October 20 arrives, because the company has left the rollout open-ended beyond the familiar warning: limited time, while supplies last.
