Mini Halloween McBuckets

Available in my Etsy store

Begging your parents to buy you a Happy Meal has been a time honored tradition for decades, but kids growing up in the '80s and '90s know the pestering was even more necessary in October when the wonderful pumpkin buckets appeared. It seemed burgers were just a little juicier and fries were just a little saltier when they came served in these. And then you got to hang on to them and fill them with candy on Halloween night!

Most of us may have grown out of eating happy meals and trick-or-treating, but these nostalgic, iconic designs can live on as small ornaments perfect for decorating a desk or mantle. The buckets have been faithfully recreated, measured from a real bucket to get the right proportions and profile but tweaked just enough to be easy to print without supports. The memorable pumpkin-ribbed lids with the little button on top are removable and the handles swing satisfyingly. The face designs were carefully redrawn exactly from photos, the witch even has the sneaky spider hiding in the back amidst her hair. There are two variations available, if you opt for the set with holes, you can add a string of LED lights and really make them pop!

I've found this size seems to work really well without needing any supports and is a good size to use with standard LED lights. Any larger and you'll likely get some drooping in some of the face elements and the rim of the bucket. It might be fun to make larger, candy dish sized buckets, but I haven't experimented with going that big. The inside of the lids, without supports will probably look a mess, but who really cares. right? The handles might look a bit precarious but I'm able to print these, and even smaller, without a brim or raft just by slowing down my speeds a bit. They are small and only take a few minutes anyway, may as well slow things down and give them the best chance for success. Once printed, trim the middle support piece away,as shown in the picture above, and bend the handle just a bit to get it to pop into the bucket holes. Don't trim away too much or the posts will be too short and the handle may slip out of the bucket easily.

Try using cjgkun's Light Clips to help secure your lights inside the buckets!