Did you know that you can get greetings from the White House? I first found out about this when I planning our wedding five years ago. So when I was addressing invitations, I also addressed one to the White House. A few weeks later, we received a wedding greeting from the President and First Lady.
You can get greetings from the White House for various occasions– weddings, birthdays (80+ years), retirement (20+ years), wedding anniversary (50+ years), and births (request before their first birthday).
I think it’s a great keepsake for a child to have, so a couple months ago I finally got around to mailing one of Owen’s birth announcements to the White House. Better late than never.
(Don’t judge my handwriting. My typing is much prettier.)
If you want to save on postage, you can head over to the White House greetings page and fill out a form online and submit it.
Or, you can send a birth announcement to:
President Barack Obama
Greetings Office Room 39
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C.
20500
Last month Owen’s greeting arrived in the mail. He was pretty pumped.
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Cat @ MaryMarthaMama says
This is so fun! My grandparents just had their 60th anniversary. I may have to write in on their behalf. I think they would be really tickled to get a card.
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
I’m sure they’d really appreciate that!
[email protected] says
nice! Abe has the same birthday as Michelle Obama (and Benjamin Franklin and Betty White; it’s pretty much the best birthday ever), so I wish I’d done this. Probably she would have noticed their shared birthday and decided to pay him a personal visit ;). He’s 2 1/2 now, though–it’s probably a little late….
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
I’m sure she would’ve. They probably could’ve done the Evolution of Mom Dancing routine together, too. Way to drop the ball, mom. You can always send a request and fudge his birthdate… But don’t come crying to me if the FBI busts you for lying.
Chrissy says
I found out about this when I was planning my wedding as well and I had totally planned to do this for my daughter when she was born in May of 2012 and I totally forgot! I have thought many times I am going to submit it anyways. 🙂
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
I won’t judge you. 😉
Caitlin @ The Delighted Dwelling says
Wow this is awesome!! I had no idea! Definitely need to pin this for our future babies!!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
I’m here to educate the masses.
Alice J says
I did this too but our daughter was born during the last part of the Bush administration. It is a very cool keepsake that my 7 year old is very proud of!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
I’m sure! I think any kiddo would think it was cool that a president and first lady sent them a greeting.
Christine F. says
Great idea! I just submitted an online request for my Nanny’s (grandmother) 90th birthday in September. 🙂
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Awesome! Hopefully she gets it before her birthday!
Carol says
very cool! I need to keep this in mind for our soon to be born nephew
Tara says
I’m Canadian and we can get similar greeting from the Queen of England. Awesome keepsakes!
Gabrielle says
Thanks so much for sharing! I just used the website and just in the nick of time since my little one’s one year birthday is tomorrow! Hehe.
Elyse says
We did this for our wedding. I have a birth one in my baby book from Reagan, and plan on doing this with my future kids. I didn’t know you could also do this for birthdays, retirements and anniversary’s. My Grandma turns 100 next July and I think I will submit a request for her. Thanks for sharing.
Jessica says
How long did it take you to receive your card back?
MJ says
Thank you so much for writing about this! Your post made me tear up, because my husband and I are both immigrants and it would mean so much to have a White House greeting for the first “natural-born” American in our family. I am definitely going to send in an announcement for our baby girl due this spring.
Robin says
TRUE story: My aunt turned 80 and my mom wrote to the White House for a Feb. birthday card. BUT she wrote “My sister wouldn’t want a card from the democrats, so could you send one from the last republican President, please, and THEY DID IT!
So washington politicians really do get along! :-0
I don’t mean to start comments, but I thought this was a cute story.
Shan says
Thats awesome that they did that. hah!
Max Lechner says
What a cool idea! I was wondering what I was going to do with the left over announcements I have. Thanks for sharing!
NF says
The greeting doesn’t seem to be personalized. Is it personalized on the other side of the letter?
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
It is not. The envelope is though.
Ingrid says
How long does it take to get a response from the White House once you’ve submitted your request?
Austin says
I’m also curious as to this. I dont think my request went through. Im still waiting to receive an email that the request was sent. Every time I push submit it seems that it refreshes the page. Is this normal?
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
It typically takes 6 weeks. I submitted a request 7-8 weeks before receiving a greeting on January 21st.
Keiva says
It took at least a couple of months to get mine. I just tried to pull up the page, though, and I think the program has ended with the new administration. 🙁
Julie says
The program has NOT ended!!! they just don’t have it online yet. When the administration changes, the website is a whole different website. Things take time. You can still mail a copy . http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/consumer/a/greetings.htm
sarah says
i’m wondering how to do this with the current trump administration? i can’t find a link to do this.
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
It appears the new administration has indefinitely postponed this program.
Jennifer says
So lame. I was all pumped up and about to redeem myself (forgot to do it with my daughter) with getting one for this baby….I guess this administration just has “better”, “more important” things to do. Ugh. At least now my kids won’t feel like one is favored over the other?
Julie says
Why give false information on your blog? Just because the white house hasn’t put it it online yet, doesn’t mean they aren’t sending the greetings. You can still mail or fax it to the white house. http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/consumer/a/greetings.htm
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Saying “Note: It appears the new administration has indefinitely postponed this program” is not giving false information. I also provided the address so people can mail one to the White House.
Julie says
Yes it is. Because they haven’t done so.
Ashley says
Then why doesn’t the current administration post on that webpage to mail a request? Takes all of 5 minutes to do so.
JFC says
Calm down, Julie.
Tatiana says
I requested mine beginning of January still have not received anything for my daughter’s birth does anyone know how long it takes??
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
It typically takes 6 weeks.
gw says
Now that we have Donald duck …this whole greetings thing has been cancelled