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- The White House Easter Egg Roll has been a spring tradition for more than 140 years.
- Rutherford B. Hayes started the tradition after kids were banned from rolling eggs on Capitol Hill.
- The Trumps’ Easter Egg Roll on Monday features partnerships with Meta, Amazon, YouTube, and others.
For over 140 years, US presidents have welcomed members of the public to celebrate Easter on the White House lawn with an Easter Egg Roll.
Dating back to the 1870s, the annual Easter Egg Roll is one of the oldest White House traditions.
On Monday, the Trumps are expected to host 40,000 people to roll and hunt around 30,000 hand-dyed eggs provided by the American Egg Board. Its president and CEO, Emily Metz, said those eggs were small- and medium-sized, which are generally not sold by stores, so the impact should not be felt by consumers, who are seeing record-high egg prices, the Associated Press reported.
The event on Monday has partnerships with Big Tech companies including Meta, Amazon, and YouTube, among others, providing experiences such as Meta’s “AI-Powered Experience and Photo Opportunity.”
Take a look at how the Easter event has evolved throughout US history.
On Easter Monday, the hottest ticket in Washington, DC, is the annual Easter Egg Roll.
Washingtonian families have spent the day on the South Lawn of the White House rolling and playing with their dyed Easter eggs since President Rutherford B. Hayes opened the gates to the Executive Mansion in 1878.
Since then, the affair has become one of the most high-profile events that takes place at the White House each year. In a 2017 interview with The New York Times, Melinda Bates, who organized eight years of Clinton-era Easter Egg Rolls said, “The White House and the first lady are judged on how well they put it on.”
President Hayes started the widely successful White House tradition in 1878 after Congress banned children from rolling their eggs on Capitol Hill.
The Evening Star reported, “Driven out of the Capitol grounds, the children advanced on the White House grounds to-day and rolled eggs down the terraces back of the Mansion, and played among the shrubbery to their heart’s content.”
The children loved rolling their eggs and themselves down the “Jefferson Mounds” on the South Lawn.
The Jefferson Mounds, landscaped by President Thomas Jefferson himself, add a gentle hill to the White House’s South Lawn.
In 1887, President Grover Cleveland began inviting children into the East Room of the White House, ruining several rugs in the process.
In fact, The Washington Post described the White House floors as “ground full of freshly smashed hard-boiled egg and broken egg shells,” according to the White House Historical Association.
President Benjamin Harrison couldn’t help but join in on the fun and made the first presidential appearance in 1889, holding his grandson Benjamin Harrison McKee.
After Harrison’s appearance, presidents regularly watched and joined in on the White House revelry.
Harrison also added music to the festivities for the first time.
In 1889, the United States Marine Band directed by John Philip Sousa played on the South Lawn, according to the White House Historical Association.
Easter Monday festivities were canceled several times due to war and construction between 1918 and 1942.
In 1918, the District of Columbia food administrator canceled the event due to the destruction of eggs, saying, “nothing that is an article of diet should be destroyed” during the war, according to the White House Historical Association.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower reinstated the egg roll for good in 1953.
Eisenhower’s grandchildren even participated in the event until security had to extract the three children from the huge surrounding crowds.
Jimmy Carter transformed the event from a simple egg roll to a full-on carnival complete with a three-ring circus.
The president’s 2-year-old grandson Jason Carter even made an appearance on the South Lawn in 1977.
Rising to the occasion, the Reagans added Broadway show performances and balloons from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
They also hid wooden eggs signed by celebrities around the grounds for children to find, a tradition that is still upheld today.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush really got into the Easter celebration.
President Bush blew a whistle indicating the start of an egg roll competition that his 3-year-old granddaughter Marshall took part in.
Continuing the new whistle tradition, Bill Clinton also signaled the start of the 1993 Easter egg hunt with a whistle blow.
A big fan of the Easter event, first lady Hillary Clinton never missed a single egg roll while her husband was in office and even had an official grandstand built for the occasion.
The Obama-era White House egg rolls did not disappoint.
The entire Obama family, including Barack’s mother-in-law, joined kids and their families on the White House lawn to read books, shoot some hoops, and take part in healthy cooking demonstrations.
In an attempt to open up the event to more people, the Obama administration established an online lottery for tickets. They also invited scores of celebrities including Idina Menzel and Christian Bale.
Donald Trump’s first term egg rolls included all of the event’s classic markers, with several of the president’s nine grandchildren in attendance.
The Associated Press reported that 30,000 parents and children attended the White House Easter Egg Roll in 2018.
Several egg-free activities have joined the festivities over the years, including inflatable bowling.
Melania Trump added inflatable bowling to the Easter Egg Roll in 2018.
At the 2019 Easter Egg Roll, Trump joined young attendees at the coloring table.
The event also featured Easter-egg hopscotch.
The annual Easter Egg Roll was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, the Bidens appeared on the balcony of the White House with the Easter Bunny, who was also wearing a face mask.
“The virus is not gone, and the second year in a row most will be apart from their families or friends and a full congregation to fill us with so much joy. But the Scripture tells us, ‘Joy cometh in the morning,'” Biden said in his remarks.
The White House Easter Egg Roll returned in all its glory in 2021.
“We weren’t able to host this Easter Egg Roll last year because of the pandemic. But this year, we’re finally getting together again, and it’s so special,” Biden told the crowd. “It means so much to see and hear the children and all the families show up to be here today. The joy, the laughter, and the occasional — at least with my young grandson, who’s only 2 — the occasional, ‘There’s the Easter Bunny.’ A little startled sometimes. But the joy and the laughter is something that has been a wonderful tradition here at the White House for a long, long time.”
Celebrity guests Jimmy Fallon and Kristin Chenoweth joined the president and first lady for story time in 2021.
Fallon read a copy of his children’s book “Nana Loves You More!”
At the 2024 Easter Egg Roll, the Bidens’ youngest grandson, Beau, helped the first lady read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”
“Thank you Beau. Thank you for reading with Nana,” the first lady said when she finished reading the book by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle.
Then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and husband Chasten Buttigieg brought their 1-year-old twins, Penelope and August.
Around 30,000 people attended the annual event, which was broken into nine sessions, according to a White House press release. Activities included the traditional egg roll as well as an egg hunt, a talent show, a photo booth with costumed characters, and a dinosaur activity tent.
The 2024 event was themed “EGGucation,” inspired by Jill Biden’s teaching career.
The 2024 event featured educational activities, an obstacle course in a “physical EGGucation zone,” and costumed characters such as Daniel Tiger, Winnie the Pooh, and SpongeBob SquarePants.
This year’s event features partnerships with Big Tech companies including Meta and YouTube.
The 2025 event features a reading nook from Amazon and a “Bunny Hop Stage” provided by Google, among other experiences, in what’s apparently Big Tech’s latest move to “make nice” with the administration, BI’s Lauren Edmonds reported.
Ahead of the event, first lady Melania Trump thanked White House staff on X.
“As families across the nation gather to celebrate Easter, I extend my gratitude to the dedicated East Wing Staff for their tireless effort in preparing the upcoming White House Easter Egg Roll,” she wrote on Friday. “This cherished tradition, rooted in history since 1878, brings joy, storytelling, and laughter to America’s children. I look forward to watching all of the smiles light up this memorable day, on Monday.”
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