If you’re here, reading this blog, there’s a good chance you know McBoo. First introduced to me at the tender age of six years old, through the McDonald’s Halloween happy meal buckets, McBoo was the “O” faced jack-o-lantern bucket. McBoo was always my favorite of the three, the other two being way less mysterious. What you might be surprised to learn, is that McBoo showed up nearly a decade earlier, on 1979 McDonald’s Halloween Rings.

McGoblin (test marketed in 1985 as McJack) has a sharp-tipped, scratchy grin. A big diamond nose and wide “U” shapes for eyes. He’s very goblinesque. One spooky dude. McPunk’n (also originally called “McPunky”) is all smiles. Oh yeah, wiseguy? What have you got to be so happy about, Punk’n? Huh?

McBoo – More than a Pumpkin

So now I think I’ve made my point crystal clear. McBoo could be frightened of getting Smarties in his Halloween bucket instead of a peanut butter cup! He could be shocked at what he’s just seen! McBoo could be reacting to someone spilling some serious tea. A true renaissance pumpkin candy pail.

I’m not the only one who thought McBoo should and could stick around. Long before the premiere of the McDonald’s Halloween buckets in 1986, there are scattered mentions of one McBoo in numerous McDonald’s advertisements. The 1986 pumpkin namesake originally belonged to McBoo the ghost. And in 1979, he made it on to yellow-ish orange lenticular plastic rings! The 1979 McDonald’s Halloween Rings were also made in the USA, which I promise the buckets aren’t.

These rings are stamped copyright 1979, and have a lenticular sticker that “flashes” back and forth between a Happy Halloween Ronald McDonald and a McBoo! ghost.