Mini Halloween McBuckets

thingiverse

Begging parents to buy a Happy Meal has been a timeless tradition for generations, but kids growing up in the '80s and '90s know that pestering was even more essential in October when pumpkin buckets appeared. It seemed burgers were just a bit juicier and fries just a bit saltier when served in these iconic containers. And then you got to hang on to them and fill them with candy on Halloween night! Most of us may have outgrown eating Happy Meals and trick-or-treating, but these nostalgic designs can live on as small decorations perfect for adorning a desk or mantle. The buckets have been recreated faithfully, 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 little buttons on top are removable, and the handles swing satisfyingly. The face designs were carefully redrawn exactly from photos; the witch even has a sneaky spider hiding in her hair. There are two variations available; if you opt for the set with holes, you can add a string of LED lights to really make them pop! I've found this size works 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 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 will probably look messy without supports, but who really cares? The handles might look a bit precarious, but I'm able to print these and even smaller ones 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 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!