McDonalds Halloween Happy Meals

When I was a kid, the country wasn't so obsessed with child obesity.  I don't know if it was a big problem in the 90s, but I know McDonalds and Burger King didn't care enough to correct their ads to be more health conscious.  Ya know what?  I liked it better that way!  Remember the Burger King Kids Club?

This gang was everywhere!  They were in commercials, graced the Kids Meal bags and boxes, and specialized in luring children to the play area.  They were awesome.  Personally, my favorite was Kid Vid and, yeah, I'll admit, he and his followers probably did encourage me to eat more fast food.  But, now those days are over.  Fast food chains advertising toward children is no longer accepted in our society, so characters like The Hamburglar are as good as gone.  What a shame.

I mean, just take a few seconds and remember how colorful things used to be.  From the commercials and toys, to the videos and holidays, everything was so much more fun.  After watching this video, I started to realize how much more I was "lovin' it" in the 90s!

Ronald McDonald and his buddies always made me happy, but what's even better about this commercial is the end.  Do you guys remember the Halloween Happy Meal Pails?  I can remember the first time my Dad brought one home to me and I just couldn't believe it.  I was in a complete state of shock and, really, moments like that are reasons why I'm so obsessed with Halloween today.  Seeing that little orange pail filled me with just as much happiness as the food inside it.  And now...

They're Back!

The McDonalds' Halloween Happy Meal Trick-or-Treat Pails are variations of what I remember and what's depicted in my video, but they're obviously related to the originals.  They come in both green and orange and you're asked to make monsters with the use of stickers.  We have eyes, noses, eyebrows, and scary teeth.  We're in control now!

I wasn't going to post pictures of the McDonalds food, because I think we all know what that looks like, but just look at those apples.  Really?  Apples?  What happened to the little plastic chicken nuggets that I can dress up like Dracula?  Now I'm stuck with a bag of stupid apples.  Oh well..

Let's get to the faces my girlfriend and I created!

From what I've noticed, there are different sets of stickers and, in the one we received with our green pail, there really wasn't much of a selection.  We did our best with what we were given, but I'm really not all the hyped up on greeny.  In this case, we have what looks to be the face of Mickey Mouse.. if he was a zombie..or going as Frankenstein this Halloween.

He's more fun.  We pretty much used the better stickers on him.  He has cross-eyes, a pig nose, one protruding tooth, freckles and band-aids.  He's obviously dumb, but he's happy with who he is.  You know you love him.

You know we had to pick up the orange pail too.  You can't have one without the other and I was not letting this Halloween come and go without decorating each color.  Thankfully, we got a different set of stickers with the orange pail.  This enabled us to create three faces on one pail and call this trip to McDonalds a complete success.  Our first, pictured above, is some type of half-dog, half-clown face.  He's smiling, but I wouldn't get too close.

The One-Eyed Beast reminds me of Mike from Monsters Inc., but I don't mind that it makes me look less creative.  I knew, once I saw that big eye on the sheet, that this monster would be created with the stickers I associated it with.  I like to think that he just ate a big meal, probably a living creature, when nobody was looking and is now just laying back with a full belly.  I like this face, but it's not my favorite.

This...is my favorite!!  Why?  I don't know why.  I just love him.  He reminds me of a cartoon character.  I can't figure out whom, but I think it might be Powdered Toast Man from Ren & Stimpy.  Something about this face makes me smile just as much as his railroad grill.  Speaking of his smile, I've decided to name him "Stitch" for obvious reasons.  Although, that is yet another Disney reference in one post and I'm probably pushing it.  I'm really much more creative than stealing from Disney, I swear..

We only have a few more days left, but I can almost guarantee you live near a McDonalds.  It doesn't matter what country your from, I know you're close enough to a McDonalds that you can go out and pick up a few Halloween pails.  Don't get me wrong, I don't expect anybody to actually use them when Trick-or-Treating, because you'll only fit about 15 pieces of candy in them, but they're still a must have.  For the price of a Happy Meal, you get a bucket of Halloween glory and an instant blast from the past.  It's completely worth it and, like carving pumpkins, provides a great face-making experience.

And hey, if I didn't sell it to you well enough already, check out this 2011 McDonalds commercial which, shockingly, reminds me a bit of the old days!