--- title: White House Welcomes Trick-or-Treaters for Halloween 2018 description: President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted their second Halloween trick-or-treat party at the White House this year. canonical: https://time.com/5432535/white-house-halloween-2018/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-29T14:36:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:36.556Z og:title: White House Welcomes Trick-or-Treaters for Halloween og:description: The Trumps hosted costumed kids at the White House again og:url: https://time.com/5432535/white-house-halloween-2018/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9b9c038f9ce6847/69893db6db298725712610c1/trump-halloween-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Trump and First Lady Welcome Children for Halloween at White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Welcomes Trick-or-Treaters for Halloween twitter:description: The Trumps hosted costumed kids at the White House again twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9b9c038f9ce6847/69893db6db298725712610c1/trump-halloween-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Donald Trump and Melania Trump Host Trick-or-Treaters for Halloween > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=83355c94-6472-4725-b689-5319d51cf11b&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 29, 2018 2:36 PM UTC  President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcome trick-or-treaters to the White House for Halloween festivities, October 28, 2018, in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcome trick-or-treaters to the White House for Halloween festivities, October 28, 2018, in Washington, DC. Pool—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 29, 2018 2:36 PM UTC [As is tradition](http://time.com/4551287/halloween-2016-president-obama-michelle-candy-white-house/), President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted a Halloween event at a pumpkin-decorated White House on Sunday, bringing in local children and special guests for some trick-or-treating and games in the spirit of the October holiday. Handing out Twizzlers and Hershey chocolate bars, the Trumps — not in costume — greeted and snapped photos with kids dressed up as superheroes, astronauts and mythical creatures, all while the U.S. Air Force band serenaded the crowd. [Last year](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/first-lady-melania-trump-announces-halloween-white-house-2017/), during their first time around hosting the Halloween festivities, the Trumps handed out candy including Presidential M&Ms and cookies from the White House Pastry Kitchen and hung out with kids dressed up as everything from [skeletons to dinosaurs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE9Ce7aEU5g). The facade of the White House was decked out in faux spider webs to create a spooky atmosphere, with pumpkins carved with the likenesses of past presidents scattered around, and some staff and other guests dressed up in costume. Presidents have been partaking in Halloween [events for decades](https://www.businessinsider.com/halloween-at-the-white-house-2018-9), with traditions harking back to the Eisenhower administration. While it seemed to start as an evening for presidential children to have their friends over for pumpkin carving and dress-up, it has evolved into an event open to local schoolchildren and military families, with hundreds of guests arriving. The Trumps have also followed other presidential holiday traditions, like hosting the annual [Easter Egg party](http://time.com/5224694/melania-trump-lawn-bowling/) and decorating the place for [Christmas](http://time.com/5044868/melania-trump-christmas-colbert/), during their time at the White House so far. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5432535/white-house-halloween-2018/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5432535/white-house-halloween-2018/"},"headline":"President Donald Trump and Melania Trump Host Trick-or-Treaters for Halloween","datePublished":"2018-10-29T14:36:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:36.556Z","description":"Trick-or-treat at the White House","url":"https://time.com/5432535/white-house-halloween-2018/","keywords":["Newsfeed","halloween","trump","halloween 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9b9c038f9ce6847/69893db6db298725712610c1/trump-halloween-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9b9c038f9ce6847/69893db6db298725712610c1/trump-halloween-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump and First Lady Welcome Children for Halloween at White House","caption":"Trump and First Lady Welcome Children for Halloween at White House","creditText":"Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5432535/white-house-halloween-2018/","name":"President Donald Trump and Melania Trump Host Trick-or-Treaters for Halloween"}}]}] ```