WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcomed thousands to the first White House Easter Egg Roll of his second term.

The president and first lady addressed the crowd from a White House balcony before they joined the festivities.

Children will line up to guide colorfully dyed hard-boiled eggs across a patch of lawn to a finish line. There’s also an egg hunt and activities to promote next year’s 250th anniversary of America’s founding.

Kids and families can sign a mini-Declaration of Independence or dress up as Founding Fathers during the daylong event that will feature multiple activity stations, live performances and story times.

The first lady, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Keith Kellogg, the president’s special envoy for Ukraine, are among those scheduled to read to children.

The United States celebrates its 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026.

The American Egg Board, which has participated in the Easter Egg Roll for nearly 50 years and has been a lead sponsor for the past decade, donated 30,000 eggs that were hand-dyed by board staff and volunteers and delivered to the White House on Friday, said Emily Metz, board president and CEO.

She said the board understands the frustration felt by egg farmers and consumers over the egg shortage caused by the spread of avian flu and how expensive it’s become to buy a dozen as a result.

Metz said the 2,500 dozen eggs given to the White House were small and medium, sizes not typically sold by retailers, so will not further strain the supply or contribute to even higher prices. Nearly 9 million dozen eggs are sold daily in the United States, she said.

“We feel like we need to take a moment to celebrate where we can, and you cannot have Easter without eggs and you cannot have the White House Easter Egg Roll without real eggs,” Metz said in an interview.

The Easter Egg Roll is one of the oldest White House traditions. It dates to 1878 and the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, who opened the lawn to children after Congress banned them from rolling eggs on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.

Tickets for Monday’s event were distributed through a lottery.