'Tis the Season for Holiday Parties at the White House
More than 50,000 guests expected to attend 28 parties in December.
Dec. 11, 2009— -- Welcoming friends and relatives during the holiday season can be stressful for even the most patient and experienced hosts.
What if your guest list included more than 50,000 people over the course of three weeks?
This month, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama become the entertainers-in-chief, hosting nearly 30 parties during their first holiday season at the White House.
More than 50,000 people have received invitations to attend one of the 17 holiday parties and 11 open houses at the White House that started last week and will continue right up until the Obamas leave for vacation at the end of the month.
This isn't just throwing open the White House doors and putting out some drinks and appetizers. The Obamas will attend each party, greet guests in a receiving line, pose for photos at most of the events and even mingle among the partygoers at a select few.
This year, the holiday season parties are under increased, and perhaps unprecedented, scrutiny after the incident at the Obamas' first state dinner, when two aspiring reality television stars were able to get past security despite not having an invitation.
The "gatecrashers" incident put an unflattering focus on social secretary Desiree Rogers, who is the principle coordinator for social events at the White House and for the president and first lady.
The Salahi gatecrash also had a quick impact on the way the White House admits guests to holiday parties. Unlike the night of the state dinner, when the Salahis were admitted by Secret Service, White House staffers now stand at security checkpoints to help the Secret Service manage guests.
"We had staff at the security checkpoint to ensure that if there was any confusion about lists, those would be double-checked with somebody representing the social office," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said after the first party of the season on Dec. 1. "That was an assessment made based on something that we believed could have been added, and we've made those changes as of last night."
The change follows the procedures used by previous administrations, where a representative from the social secretary's office would attend to security checkpoints for events.
