Dunkin' Is Taking On McDonald's With Its Own Halloween Buckets This Year

In classic fast food rivalries, Dunkin' is usually squaring off against its caffeinated competitor Starbucks, but this Halloween they will be taking aim at an even bigger name: McDonald's. As far as holiday releases go, the burger chain isn't quite in the same league as Starbucks and Dunkin'. McDonald's may have the iconic Shamrock shake or the occasional new McFlurry, but hamburgers don't lend themselves to an endless string of new seasonal flavors the way coffee and pastries have. There is however one area where McDonald's beats them all — and that's with its collectibles. The Happy Meal is still the undefeated champion of fast food merchandising, and that is what Dunkin' is coming for this October with a competitor of McDonald's Halloween buckets.

The Dunkin' Halloween buckets have not been officially announced, but news of their upcoming release has been leaked by stalwart social media source Markie_Devo on TikTok, who broke the news of the new collectibles along with the entirety of Dunkin's fall and Halloween menu. The Dunkin' Halloween bucket is reportedly set to drop on October 16 along with a new drink and donut for the holiday. The bucket will be sold as a Munchkin bucket, containing 50 of the bite-sized favorites. The plastic bucket features a purple color scheme, a Dunkin' logo, and a collection of Munchkin-shaped Halloween characters like a ghost and pumpkin holding trick-or-treat buckets of their own. There is no word on the price yet, but the collectible buckets will only be available while supplies last.

The Halloween bucket from Dunkin' is a foray into what is normally a McDonald's tradition. Called "Boo Buckets," the McDonald's version launched all the way back in 1986, and although they have come and gone as a promotion over the decades, the McDonald's Halloween buckets returned in 2022 and 2023 after a six-year absence. The plastic buckets are sold as a Happy Meal container replacement during the Halloween season and can be used by kids as trick-or-treating containers after that. The design normally features simple faces representing characters like a jack-o-lantern, ghost, and vampire. Dunkin' has released its own version of Halloween buckets before, but not since a glow-in-the-dark version back in the 90s. It has instead stuck to more Starbucks-adjacent promotions like a glow-in-the-dark Halloween cold cup it put out in 2021.

The rest of the special releases look fun, but a little less novel. The Halloween drink will feature ube as a flavor, and the Halloween donut is purple glazed with a chocolate Munchkin in the middle and a spider design. The new fall menu looks a lot like Dunkin's 2023 fall menu, with returning items including pumpkin spice lattes, maple sugar bacon, and pumpkin muffins. But no matter the food items, that Dunkin' Munchkin Halloween bucket is sure to be a hot item, so mark October 16 on your calendar now.