McDonald's Continues Halloween Bucket Tradition with Scooby Doo in 2012

I blogged at length last year about my collection of McDonald's Halloween Happy Meal buckets, which began around 1985. I am pleased to report that Mickey D continued the tradition again this year, with Scooby Doo themed buckets.

I have to say, I miss the older style Happy Meal containers with faces and names like McPunky and McBoo. I also miss the hard plastic lids, even the ones with removable cookie cutters. The stickers-on-backing-paper lids from the last several years are, imho, craptastic. They end up getting greasy from the fries and the stickers themselves don't adhere particularly well.

On the bright side, at least the graphics on the actual buckets are interesting, unlike last year's essentially blank "create your own" versions. The Scooby Doo logo handles on this year's three variations are a bit clunky, but still serviceable. And I love the third color choice for this year's selection: purple. There hasn't been a purple bucket since 1994's McWitch.

So that's one of my collecting obsessions. What are yours?