11 days before this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll, I received an email saying that WE GOT TICKETS! I was floored. I’ve entered to get egg roll tickets in the past but never actually won some. Woohoo!
I thought it might be helpful to document our 2022 experience for those who are lucky enough to snag these coveted tickets in the future.
Register for Tickets
To get tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll, you submit your info to the lottery on recreation.gov. I came across the link at the end of March, but I believe the form is only open for a few weeks a year.
Tickets are free and you don’t have to live near DC to get them. Tickets are given out by lottery.
On the form, you specify the number of tickets desired adult and child tickets and time you want. There were multiple times available (I think 5?), and I requested all times in the order of most to least wanted times. I almost missed this part and requested only one time.
Once you submit your request, you wait and hope to get the email from recreation.gov that you’ve been selected. The email specifies the date and time with extra details, and your tickets are attached to the email in a PDF.
Note: The Egg Roll is on the Monday after Easter.
Getting in to the Easter Egg Roll
The day of the Egg Roll arrived and it was POURING rain outside. We left our cute outfits at home and donned our winter jackets, hats, scarves, rain boots and warm pants. Along with our double stroller with rain cover and umbrellas, we looked very not-Easter, but I was grateful to be warm and dry!
Ahead of time, we reserved a parking spot in a garage nearby but when the day came, we grabbed street parking to save us from extra walking in the rain.
We arrived about 30-45 minutes before our “gates open” time, and were already in the second row of the queue. There were volunteers and signs everywhere so it was easy to know where to go.
When our group’s time arrived, we were led to a queue for ticket scan. Then we went through another queue for security, then into another queue where we waited about 20 minutes more. We stood around listening to a live DJ play lots of kid-friendly songs.
Lots of standing around and waiting but everyone was very friendly, there were plenty of workers so it moved quickly.
On the White House Lawn
When we were finally let in, they had a legit marching band welcoming us, along with plenty of signs pointing us to the various activities.
At this point, the rain lightened to a drizzle, so we bypassed the photo opps (with volunteer photo takers) and went straight to the Egg Roll. We didn’t know what anything else was but decided we came to the egg roll, we might as well start there.
I’m so glad we did too because the Egg Roll line grew quickly, moved slowly and was the longest of them all! The kids literally put an egg on a spoon and see if they can balance it while they walk back and forth two times. Or they can roll it. Or if you’re my child, you just leave the egg and walk back and forth.
It’s technically a race but nobody really cares and there’s no prize except for having fun. It was SO COOL being right in front of the White House.
After some quick photos with characters like Doc McStuffins, Miguel (from Coco), Cookie Monster, and the Easter Bunny, we went to the Easter Egg Hunt.
To keep the queue down, only kids were able to stand in line (or adults with a young kid). The volunteers gave each kid a basket, lined them up in groups and then the kids raced around to collect as many eggs as they could.
You don’t need to bring your own basket. In fact, kids who brought baskets actually gave them back to their parents so their baskets didn’t get yucky. Plus at this point, it was raining again.
Once the kids were done, the volunteers took the baskets back, spread out the eggs and queued up the next group. My kids did not understand why these were real eggs and didn’t have treats inside. 🙂 But, it certainly made it easier for them to give it all back for the next group!
It was getting crowded now, so we split up: one parent get in the queue for the food tent while the other took the kids to the bathrooms.
Mostly, I point this out because they had legit nice bathrooms (not portapotties), and multiples of them so I never saw a real line. Yay!
The food tent gave us a reprieve from the rain…. once we got inside. Lines moved quickly, everything was individually packaged for grab and go. The food was free.
From memory, each person could take one of 4 items: a mini quiche, mini egg salad sandwich, a meringue cookie, and a raspberry cheesecake. And, the kids could take a sugar cookie.
You could tell the organizers really tried to make things engaging with food displays, educational opportunities and a stage where someone was making something. But keeping my kids warm, dry and happy were my main concern so I didn’t look at them much.
There was a reading area where celebrities apparently come out to read and during some groups (not ours), the President and First Lady also will come out to say a few words. But I think it was raining too much during our group for anyone to really want to come out.
We did make it to a few more tents where the kids did some science experiments, dyed easter eggs, and a few other activities. I felt bad for the singer tent in the back which had only a small crowd (likely due to the pouring rain), but Sofia Carson’s few songs sounded great!
Overall, despite the weather, we were extremely glad we went. The kids didn’t understand why a souvenir egg was cooler than a plastic egg with candy or why it was such a big deal to be on the White House lawn rolling an easter egg. But, my husband and I both thought it was a really cool experience.
As there were quite a few families in their nice Easter clothes, I was seriously thankful we dressed appropriately. But I think the rain helped thin out the crowds, so warm, sunny days might be more crowded.
There are some people who’ve been multiple years, but since I don’t often have good luck, I’m calling this a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But I’m definitely entering again next year, just in case.
Have you ever gone to the White House Easter Egg Roll? If so, what were your thoughts on the experience? If not, do you plan to enter the lottery next year? Comment below, I’d love to hear your feedback!
Leave a Reply