Easter Egg Roll Lottery (2018 dates not announced yet)

How to enter the White House Easter Egg Roll lottery

Easter Egg Roll tickets are free and were made available via an online lottery March 15-18, 2017. To enter the lottery, participants were prompted to create an account on the Recreation.gov website. The lottery page had a list of all of the available time slots and entrants had to rank them in the order of preference. Entrants also had to specify the number of adults/children on the ticket request screen along with their time slot choices.

Only one application per household was allowed.

The time slots available for the 2017 Easter Egg Roll (Groups A, B, C, D, and E) were:

Interesting Facts about the White House Easter Egg Roll

Ticketing

• In the past eight years, lottery ticket winners have come from all 50 states.
• A portion of the tickets are distributed to military families and public schools in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia.
• On average, there are almost 50,000 lottery applicants requesting around 200,000 tickets in the lottery.
• The 2017 White House Easter Egg Roll ticket distribution method will be via online lottery.

Eggs

• The souvenir White House wooden eggs include the stamped signatures of the President and First Lady.
• The wooden eggs are made in the U.S. using a process of wood turning and barrel dying.
• Children receive a souvenir wooden egg at the event.
• More than 80,000 souvenir wooden eggs are made each year and have been available for public purchase.
• Over 14,000 hard-boiled eggs are hand-dyed for use in the Easter egg roll and the egg hunt.
• Guests at the Egg Dying station will decorate over 4,500 hard-boiled eggs on the day of the Easter Egg Roll.
• Visually impaired children are able to participate in the Egg Roll and Egg Hunt through the use of special “chirping eggs”.

Past Easter Egg Roll Performers, Special guests, and Entertainment

• JDJ Fussyman, Diggy Simmons, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Fifth Harmony, MKTO, Newsies, Jordin Sparks, Austin Mahone, Coco Jones, Sesame Street, and The Wanted have all performed on the Rockin’ Egg Roll Stage. ID4GiRLS and Jessica Sanchez have sung the National Anthem.
• Reading on the Storytime Stage: NASCAR’s Danica Patrick, Julianne Moore, J.K. Rowling, Minnesota Viking Adrian Peterson, Elmo, Abby, Gordon and Rosita from Sesame Street, the full cast of Super Sprowtz, The Wanted, and actress Quvenzhané Wallis.

Sustainability

• The White House uses goody bags that are made from recycled materials and can be recycled after use.
• The eggs are packaged in recyclable paperboard which minimizes waste and lessens the environmental impact of the event.
• There will be both trash bins and recycling bins for guests to use around the South Lawn and Ellipse areas.

Easter Egg Roll Volunteers

• Event volunteers include professional American Sign Language interpreters and nurses and physicians from George Washington University.
• Each year, there are approximately 1,200 hard-working volunteers lending their time and talent to make the event a fun and memorable one.
• All volunteers are required to attend at least one training session.
• Many of the volunteers arrive early in the morning by 5:00 AM to help set up and get prepared for the first round of guest arrivals.
• It takes around 2,000 eggs to make breakfast for the hungry volunteers.

History of the White House Easter Egg Roll

• The first White House Easter Egg Roll was held in 1878 when President Rutherford B. Hayes opened up the South Lawn to children who had been chased off the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.
• John Philip Sousa and the Marine Band performed for the crowd at the Egg Roll in 1889
• In 1933, the Easter Egg Roll was first broadcast to a national audience over the radio by Eleanor Roosevelt.
• There was a circus and petting zoo in 1977.
• President Nixon first invited the Easter Bunny to be part of the event and President Reagan started the tradition of the egg hunt.
• The last time the Easter Egg Roll was cancelled due to rain was in 2001.