2012 White House easter egg roll welcomed over 30,000 guests to the South Lawn (VIDEO)
Obama (C) speaks to participants along with (L-R) first lady Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha and Malia, and the Easter Bunny.
The 2012 White House Easter Egg Roll saw children and their families flock to the South Lawn on Monday, where the Obama family hosted the traditional Easter celebration featuring games, stories, and of course, the Roll itself.
The White House gave over 30,000 people tickets to the event, which was themed "Let's Go, Let's Play, Let's Move," and included yoga, cooking lessons, story time, basketball and tennis tips, and performances by Rachel Crow and Janelle Monae in addition to the customary Egg Roll. The theme tied in to First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program, an effort to stem US childhood obesity focused on exercise, the Chicago Tribune reported.
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The Egg Roll, which was moved from the Capitol to the White House in 1878, offered American citizens a rare chance to see the first family up close, the Washington Post reported. Some presidents loved the tradition, while others, such as Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, didn't even attend. It was also canceled from 1942 to 1952, because Harry Truman thought the sight of Americans playing with eggs sent the wrong message to a war-torn Europe, according to the Post.
The eggs are made of birch and painted bright yellow, blue, purple and green and stamped with a customized Easter Egg Roll seal, Bloomberg reported. This year's batch also includes a limited-edition red egg featuring the Obama's family dog Bo.
President Obama refrained from joining in the Egg Roll competition, in which participants wooden-spoon colorful hard-boiled eggs to a finish line, and instead played referee for a few rounds, the Post reported.