Learn how to paint a plastic Halloween pumpkin bucket and totally transform it! Now you can coordinate it with any costume!

How to Paint a Plastic Halloween Pumpkin Bucket

Basically, to paint a plastic Halloween pumpkin bucket, there are three main steps:

Spray paint base coat
Add facial details with a small brush and craft paint
Spray paint clear sealer

From there, you can add some personalization if you’d like, but all in all, that’s it.

Here, I’ll walk you through how I painted a cheap basic plastic Halloween pumpkin bucket and transformed it to match my son’s biker baby costume!

Now he’s ready for trick-or-treating!

Supplies for Painting a Plastic Halloween Pumpkin Bucket

Here’s what I used to paint a cheap plastic Halloween pumpkin bucket and give it a custom spooky makeover:

Plastic Halloween pumpkin bucket
Metallic silver spray paint
Craft paint
- Two shades of metallic silver
- Red
- Gold
Small paint brush
Spray clear gloss sealer
Vinyl (for personalizing with my son’s name)
- Check this out to learn all about how to make a layered vinyl decal!

The Plastic Halloween Pumpkin Bucket: Pre-Makeover

I picked up this plastic pumpkin bucket last year at Target.

It’s just your stereotypical Halloween pumpkin bucket designed for trick-or-treating youngsters that you can find in nearly every store come October.

Nothing special, but just perfect for a tiny tot.

So why this particular pumpkin makeover?

Like I mentioned, for Halloween this year, Rowan is dressing up as a biker from the TV show Sons of Anarchy.

I’m changing it to Toddlers of Anarchy though to soften it up a bit.

You can check out my full tutorial for this SOA costume too! It’s totes adorbs.

Since he’s going as a hardcore biker baby (minus the lawlessness and, uhhh, other indiscretions), he can’t have this cutesy little pumpkin bucket as is.

No, no. It’s just too adorable.

He needs something hard and rough and a tad bit sinister.

So, I started brainstorming ways to harden up this cutesy little bucket and immediately thought of giving it an industrial vibe a la the Harleys in the show.

Sons of Anarchy Toddler Halloween Costume: Toddlers of Anarchy Cuteness!

Step One: Spray Paint Base Coat

The first step in painting a plastic Halloween pumpkin bucket (after removing the plastic handle), is giving it a couple nice coats of spray paint (inside and out).

I headed to my local Home Depot in search of silver spray paint, and when I spotted this spray paint in Antique Pewter, I knew this was the look I was going for!

I loved the textured look of the forged hammer. Very industrial and rough, and perfect for a baby biker.

First the inside was covered…

…then I flipped the bucket over and covered the outside in a couple coats as well.

Step 2: Add The Details with Craft Paint

I wanted to add some depth and dimension to our biker pumpkin bucket in addition to coloring the facial features.

After raiding my craft stash, I pulled out two different shades of silver metallic craft paint.

I then used my bare finger and added some shading with the darker paint in all the creases and around the bottom, as well as gave this guy some cheekbones.

Next, some highlights were added using the lighter paint.

Then came coloring the pumpkin bucket’s facial features with some different colors of craft paint to really make them POP.

I wanted this guy to be a little devilish and cool (as opposed to adorable and cute).

All it took was a small paint brush to add some red craft paint in the eyes as well as a little metallic gold paint to the teeth.

Evil red eyes and yellowy pointed teeth…so spooky, right?

Nah, not too much with that little grin and of course those cute cheekbones!

Step 3: Seal the Paint with Clear Spray Sealant

Once all the paint was dry, I took the pumpkin bucket back outside and gave the inside and outside a couple coats of clear sealant.

This was to protect the paint from being scratched and scuffed up from future wear and tear (a.k.a. trick-or-treating with a toddler).

It also provided a nice shine to the surface.

Optional Step 4: Add Some Personalization

I have an addiction to not only my Silhouette Cameo but also to personalization, and they feed off each other.

See this for lots of proof.

That means I of course had to slap a vinyl decal of my son’s name on the back of the plastic pumpkin bucket, lest anyone forget who this unique hard-core bucket belongs to.

Then all that was left for this plastic Halloween pumpkin bucket makeover was to pop the plastic handle back in!