WASHINGTON — The White House Halloween celebration started with a roar overhead. Thousands of costumed kids were lined up across the South Lawn, clutching candy buckets and staring up at a glowing harvest moon, when the new Air Force One thundered past low over the White House — not once, but twice.
President Trump stopped what he was doing, pointed skyward, and made sure every tiny trick-or-treater saw it. Then he went back to handing out candy.
That was the scene Thursday evening as President Trump and first lady Melania Trump hosted the annual White House Halloween celebration, welcoming 6,000 guests — children of administration staff, military families, law enforcement families, and foster and adoptive families — to an evening of costumes, candy, and presidential pageantry.
A White House Halloween on a Grand Scale
The Trumps greeted guests on the South Lawn, personally handing out commemorative full-sized chocolate bars to the trick-or-treaters who filed past. For the kids, it was the kind of White House Halloween story they will be telling for years: the president of the United States dropping a king-size candy bar into their bucket.
The costumes were pure Americana chaos. Founding fathers rubbed shoulders with dinosaurs. Soldiers in camouflage stood next to kids dressed as bright yellow bananas. Race car drivers — two of them — got the president to sign their uniforms.
One young guest, dressed as a founding father, came prepared. He handed Trump what appeared to be a historic document — believed to be either the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence — and asked for the president’s signature. Trump obliged, signing as first lady Melania Trump looked on.
Air Force One Steals the Show at the White House Halloween Party
The undisputed showstopper of the evening was the flyover. The new Air Force One, painted in its signature red, white, blue and gold livery, roared over the South Lawn, banked around, and came back for one more pass.
Trump paused the festivities to point the jet out to the children gathered around him, a grin on his face. The mood, by every account, was lighthearted. At one point the president even did a little shimmy to the theme song from “Ghostbusters” as it played over the speakers.
The flyover was a fitting centerpiece for an administration that has made military spectacle a signature. The U.S. Air Force string band provided the evening’s soundtrack, playing spooky songs as kids moved through the grounds.
White House Halloween: Candy, Costumes and a Presidential Shimmy
Beyond the trick-or-treating, the evening had the feel of a small festival. The Treasury Department handed out coloring books promoting Trump Accounts to the young guests. The Center of Science and Industry gave out STEAM science-experiment kits. The International Fresh Produce Association offered Michigan apples, while the National Confectioners Association made sure nobody left without candy. The Agriculture Department set up a giant pumpkin as a photo opportunity.
Administration staff brought their families, turning the South Lawn into something of a West Wing reunion. Among those spotted: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Parents captured everything on camera. Hugs, witnesses said, were everywhere.
Spooky White House Halloween Decor Meets Construction Zone
The South Lawn itself was dressed for the occasion. A massive harvest moon hung on the balcony above, lit with an orange glow as silhouettes of bats flapped across it. Pumpkins and squash covered the grounds.
In a detail that could only happen in this White House, construction on the president’s new ballroom continued nearby throughout the party — sparks flying from squealing metal saws as children in costume collected candy a short distance away. The juxtaposition was striking: ghouls and superheroes wandering past hard hats and scaffolding, with the thump of construction blending into the Air Force band’s spooky setlist.
The White House Halloween celebration has become a fixture of the Trump White House, and this year’s edition leaned harder than ever into spectacle. Between the flyover, the full-size candy bars, and the harvest moon glowing over the South Lawn, the administration clearly wanted the evening to feel bigger than a neighborhood trick-or-treat – and for the thousands of kids who streamed through the gates, it was.
It was, in the end, a White House Halloween that managed to be both a carefully staged piece of political theater and, for 6,000 kids, simply the best trick-or-treating night of their lives.
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Source: New York Post