A search of homedepot.com from Santa Clarita, California, on October 30 showed no Halloween-print version of Home Depot’s 2-gallon bucket, the one wrapped in ghosts, jack-o’-lanterns, bats, and spiders. The same search showed the plain orange 2-gallon bucket at $2.98, with 177 in stock at the Santa Clarita store, and the white holiday bucket at $2.88, with 634 in stock.
That read covers one market and can’t show what a store has on its floor, so a store near you may still have printed buckets in its stacks. Check homedepot.com for your ZIP, then call the store before you make the trip for Saturday. If you miss it, my Home Depot Christmas bucket page covers the white holiday version.
Update, July 2026: the bucket craze has spread to other retailers. Petco is now selling Halloween-printed buckets starting at $1.50 that ship to your door. Prices and where to buy, here.
Update, October 1, 2026: Home Depot now sells a white Christmas version of the bucket for $2.98, online since October 1 and in stores in mid-October. See my Home Depot Christmas bucket page.
Where to look in the store
Shoppers who found them earlier this season reported the same two spots: stacked near the front entrance and in the garden center near the checkout lines. They are displayed in tall stacks of plain orange buckets with the printed Halloween buckets mixed in, so look for the stacks and check the print. There are two designs to hunt: one with a black jack-o’-lantern band around the base, a white ghost, spiderwebs, and bats, and a second with a haunted-tree graveyard scene – a gnarled black tree, dangling spider, bats, and a grinning jack-o’-lantern at its roots – both alongside the usual Home Depot logo.
A few practical notes from the hunt:
- Price: $2.98 each, same as the plain bucket.
- Size: 2 gallons – which, as one TikTok shopper put it last season, is a serious amount of candy capacity.
- Stock: Stores set their own pace, and homedepot.com can show different results from one ZIP to the next. If your store has nothing, ask an associate whether any are still in the back.
- Resale markup: In August, the buckets were on eBay at roughly triple the in-store price. Do not pay $10 for a $3 bucket. Check a second store first.
Why a paint bucket went viral
This is year two of the phenomenon. The printed buckets first blew up on TikTok last September – Home Depot itself posted a video captioned “How it feels finding the Home Depot Halloween bucket” as shoppers documented store-to-store hunts. For 2026 the frenzy started earlier, riding the wave of Home Depot’s earliest-ever Halloween collection launch, which went live online July 16 with in-store rollout following through August.
The appeal is easy to read: it is a sturdy, giant trick-or-treat pail for three dollars, it matches the 12-foot Skelly aesthetic that has made Home Depot a legitimate Halloween destination, and the orange-bucket silhouette is instantly recognizable. It is merch for a hardware store, and people love it.
If you strike out
The plain 2-gallon orange Home Depot bucket runs $2.98 online year-round, and a sheet of Halloween stickers gets you most of the way there. Target’s Hyde and EEK! Boutique line carries a similarly sized vintage-Jack-o’-lantern trick-or-treat pail around $3 – my Target 2026 Halloween collection page has the full list. And if the bucket is your gateway into Home Depot’s Halloween aisle, the 2026 collection with the upgraded Skelly, the new 11-foot Mummy, and the Gremlins trio reached stores through August.
More 2026 Halloween retail coverage from HAN
- Home Depot Debuts the 2026 Halloween Collection With New Giants, Interactive Tech, and Fan-Favorite Returns
- Target’s 2026 Halloween Collection
- Costco’s 2026 Halloween Collection
- The Best Halloween Animatronics for 2026: Every Retailer’s Biggest Reveal
- The Licensed IPs Taking Over 2026 Halloween Decor
Stock status as of October 30, 2026, read from homedepot.com for ZIP 91351. Online and in-store availability shifts fast on viral items, so check homedepot.com for your ZIP and call your local store before making a special trip.
