McDonald's Is Rumored To Bring Back This Beloved Item for the First Time in Years
Who doesn't love a little nostalgia? We can't help but want what we can't have, and that's especially true when it comes to the fast-food menus of yesteryear.
Luckily, McDonald's has made a habit of bringing back long-lost menu favorites in recent years. The chain's notoriously rare Szechuan sauce, originally released in 1998 as a promotional tie-in with the Disney movie Mulan, returned this spring. A few months before that, the refreshingly different Blueberry Pie reappeared for a limited time only, as well. Just a few weeks ago, the Golden Arches even announced the return of a pastry not seen on the menu since the 1980s!
October is right around the corner and that means Halloween season is about to be in full swing. Nothing is official yet, but rumors are swirling that McDonald's is primed to bring back another dearly missed retro item tied to the spooky season—the Halloween Happy Meal pails.
These fun pails absolutely exude autumn nostalgia and can be used for trick or treating long after the Happy Meal is gone. First launched in 1986, the Halloween Happy Meal pails originally came in three orange versions (McPunk'n, McBoo, and McGoblin). But by 1990,the pails had been revamped to three simpler options: A white ghost, a green witch, or an orange pumpkin.
Various versions of the pails have come and gone since then, but none connected with consumers quite like the classics seen in the late 1980s and early 1990s. No Halloween pails have been offered by McDonald's since 2016.
Fast forward to 2022, and the website Nightmare Nostalgia recently posted what they claim to be an official McDonald's corporate calendar of events for October 2022. According to the leaked image, the Halloween Happy Meal pails will be rising from the grave to haunt customers nationwide starting October 18 right up until the end of the day on Halloween on October 31.
"Now, keep in mind McDonald's hasn't released this information to the public nor is this official in any way. However, more than a few employees from McDonald's have confirmed this is indeed true so I'm happy to run with this for now in anticipation of a long overdue comeback of these national Halloween treasures," the article reads.
However, the cat seems to be out of the bag and all over the internet already.
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McDonald's is yet to publicly comment on the leak, but the trustworthy snack news Instagram account markie_devo corroborated the story and even added a follow-up post supposedly confirming that McDonald's is going back to basics this year. The three 2022 Halloween Happy Meal pails will look very similar to their early '90s ancestors: A white ghost pail, a green witch pail, and an orange pumpkin pail.
Even if this rumor does turn out to be just another ghost story, McDonald's should take note of the customer response to all the Halloween hearsay.
