For White House Christmas 2025, the volunteer decorators and performer groups were recruited and selected through a formal application process run by the White House, led by the Office of the First Lady. An August 4, 2025 White House announcement from First Lady Melania Trump opened applications for volunteer Christmas decorators and holiday performers, stated that Americans from every U.S. state and territory could apply via official online forms, and set the deadlines and notification dates—indicating that the First Lady’s office and associated White House staff (such as visitor and social office staff) organized the program and chose participants from the applicant pool.
The official White House release says that 150 volunteer decorators came from “50 states and 2 territories,” but it does not name which two territories. The accompanying media roundup clearly shows Puerto Rico represented among the volunteers. No reliable source located specifies the second territory, so it cannot be identified with confidence from publicly available information.
Public information indicates that White House holiday volunteers must pass routine federal security screening, but detailed procedures are not fully disclosed. Official announcements for 2024–2025 state that applicants must be at least 18 and apply individually; they do not spell out the checks, but multiple first‑hand accounts of recent White House Christmas decorators describe undergoing a federal background check before being allowed to work in the building. One 2022 decorator, for example, reported that the volunteer role “required her to pay for her own housing and transportation — and she had to submit to a federal background check,” and that IDs were checked repeatedly by the Secret Service while on site. It is therefore reasonable to infer that volunteers and performers are vetted through standard federal background‑screening and identity checks coordinated with the U.S. Secret Service, but the exact scope (e.g., databases queried or investigation level) is not publicly specified.
Yes. For December 2025, the White House explicitly reopened public tours and stated that all December tours would feature the Christmas decorations on the State Floor, meaning the holiday décor was viewable by the general public (who obtained tour slots through their member of Congress). Volunteer performers were scheduled to play during holiday open houses and tours, so their performances were likewise presented to tour visitors rather than only to invited dignitaries.
For 2025, volunteer performer groups applied to perform “during the holiday open houses during the month of December,” and UPI’s summary of the same announcement notes that musical groups “will perform during open houses in December.” The White House did not publish a detailed public schedule or exact performance lengths, but in past years these ensembles have typically performed short sets as part of the rotating entertainment during visitor open houses and tours. Thus, groups in 2025 were scheduled across multiple December open‑house dates, each providing a limited performance window rather than full‑length concerts.
No. Both the 2025 and 2024 official announcements state that “all selected volunteers are responsible for their individual travel, accommodations, and personal expenses,” meaning decorators and performers pay their own way to Washington, D.C. First‑person accounts from recent White House holiday decorators also note that while volunteers sometimes receive on‑site meals during work days, they are not paid and must cover their own transportation and lodging.
In this announcement, “People’s House” is a traditional nickname for the White House that emphasizes that the building is not only the president’s residence and workplace but also a national home that symbolically belongs to all Americans. The term is commonly used in official White House communications and by institutions like the White House Historical Association to describe the Executive Mansion as a public, democratic institution rather than a private palace.