The historical past of White Home Christmas playing cards, from engravings to digital greetings

[ad_1] NEW Now you can hearken to Fox Information articles!

Few White Home traditions are fairly as time-honored or cherished because the annual Christmas celebrations it hosts – which stretch again greater than a century and transcend partisan politics, imbuing the president's official residence with a sense of continuity and heat.

However the sense of togetherness and cheer need not stop at the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Like most households, U.S. presidents and first girls have lengthy used annual Christmas playing cards to share their vacation greeting to mates each close to and much – speaking well-wishes, gratitude, and at instances, refined political statements.

This is a take a look at how the custom of the White Home Christmas card started, and the way the custom has advanced all through the years.

FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP DECORATES THE WHITE HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS: 'HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS'

Christmas timber within the Cross Corridor of the White Home throughout a media tour of the White Home Christmas decorations in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The theme of the 2025 White Home Christmas decorations is "Residence Is The place The Coronary heart Is." (Al Drago/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs)

Historians aren't fairly certain when presidents started sending out Christmas playing cards, although many acknowledge that the apply probably started in an unofficial capability within the late 1800s, with the recipients probably restricted to a smaller group.

In truth, it was not till 1927 that then-President Calvin Coolidge wrote what would turn into the primary "official" Christmas card to the American folks. Coolidge, in response to a number of requests for a vacation greeting, penned a brief, easy message, "Season's Greetings," by hand in a particular, elegant type of cursive he was identified for.

The missive was printed by each main newspaper within the nation, kicking off what would turn into a bigger, extra elaborate custom that continues to at the present time.

Within the years that adopted, the Christmas greetings took the type of particular person playing cards, and the listing of recipients grew longer and extra expansive. Former Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon every expanded on the custom to make it a extra formal custom, with Eisenhower including Cupboard secretaries, members of Congress, and U.S. ambassadors abroad to the listing of recipients.

MELANIA TRUMP GIVES TOUR OF 2018 WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS DECOR

President Donald Trump and first girl Melania Trump are pictured of their official Christmas portrait. (The White Home)

Beneath Nixon, the playing cards had been mass printed for the primary time, and despatched to a much wider viewers of some 40,000 folks – an enterprise that will have been unimaginable in Coolidge's time, when the hand-printed "Season's Greetings" message was drafted by hand with painstaking care and element.

At the moment, the Republican and Democratic nationwide events are chargeable for printing the Christmas playing cards; consequently, the lists embrace (however should not restricted to) social gathering donors and marketing campaign supporters, amongst others.

WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS CHRISTMAS DECOR WITH 'SPIRIT OF AMERICA' THEME

<source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/343/192/first-lady-melania-trump-white-house-holidays-toys-for-tots-marine-corps-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/686/384/first-lady-melania-trump-white-house-holidays-toys-for-tots-marine-corps-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="192" width="343"><source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/672/378/first-lady-melania-trump-white-house-holidays-toys-for-tots-marine-corps-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/1344/756/first-lady-melania-trump-white-house-holidays-toys-for-tots-marine-corps-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/931/523/first-lady-melania-trump-white-house-holidays-toys-for-tots-marine-corps-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/1862/1046/first-lady-melania-trump-white-house-holidays-toys-for-tots-marine-corps-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"><source media="(min-width: 1280px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/720/405/first-lady-melania-trump-white-house-holidays-toys-for-tots-marine-corps-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/1440/810/first-lady-melania-trump-white-house-holidays-toys-for-tots-marine-corps-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="405" width="720"> First girl Melania Trump speaks with a lady at a Toys for Tots charity drive occasion at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Quantico, Va. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photograph)

Whereas neither social gathering has launched an official depend of the playing cards it has despatched out on behalf of current presidents, the RNC is estimated to have printed some 1.5 million White Home Christmas playing cards throughout George W. Bush's presidency – a quantity that has since grown beneath former Presidents Obama, Biden, and Trump in his first time period and this yr.

Different technological advances enable even these with out deep pockets to share within the Christmas pleasure.

The White Home social media accounts have embraced the rise of social media in recent times to share the official Christmas pictures, increasing the attain and message of the commander-in-chief, and infrequently the remainder of his household.

The White Home accounts on Tuesday shared the official 2025 Christmas portrait of President Donald Trump and First girl Melania Trump.

This yr's printed White Home Christmas card expands on Melania Trump's 2025 White Home Christmas theme, "House is The place the Coronary heart is," which she mentioned was impressed by the "joys, challenges, and frequent movement derived from motherhood and enterprise."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"This Christmas, let’s have a good time the love we maintain inside ourselves, and share it with the world round us," she mentioned in a statement saying the 2025 White Home Christmas theme. "In any case, wherever we're, we will create a house crammed with grace, radiance, and countless potentialities."

Breanne Deppisch is a nationwide politics reporter for Fox Information Digital overlaying the Trump administration , with a concentrate on the Justice Division, FBI and different nationwide information. She beforehand lined national politics on the Washington Examiner and The Washington Submit, with extra bylines in Politico Journal, the Colorado Gazette and others. You possibly can ship tricks to Breanne at Breanne.Deppisch@fox.com , or observe her on X at @breanne_dep .