The White House Easter Egg Roll ticket lottery opens on Thursday morning. That’s a hot ticket for families and especially for little ones who are hoping to stretch Easter weekend a bit for more fun and games. It is eggciting news that this year the lottery time is extended by five hours, closing at 3 p.m. (not 10 a.m.) on March 23rd. PETA would like to make the Easter Egg Roll “eggstra special for chickens.” The animal rights organization asked First Lady Jill Biden to discontinue using real chicken eggs this year and instead use wooden eggs or painted stones (!).

Do painted stones sound like a good idea? It put visions of little kids hopped up on sugar throwing stones at each other in my head. What could go wrong? Wooden eggs make more sense, if those are the choices.

The Twitter post announcing the ticket lottery received lots of eggcited responses.

EGGCITING NEWS! The White House Easter Egg Roll ticket lottery opens at 10am ET on Thurs 3/16 and closes at 10am ET on Thurs 3/23. Lottery results announced Mon 3/27 via email. Enter here: https://t.co/uz3jVT4E7i #EasterEggRoll pic.twitter.com/1dVDW8dM1I

— Easter Egg Roll Info (@EasterEggRoll) March 13, 2023

Yay! I’m ready to roll! 🤞🏾

— Amanda J (@AJ23Obliquity) March 13, 2023

Yeah, we see what you did there, Amanda.

PETA sent the request to Jill Biden because the first lady is in charge of this shindig. PETA wanted to appeal to the Bidens as pet lovers.

“Every year in the U.S., about 300 million hens’ beaks are mutilated, then they’re forced to spend their entire lives pressed against other birds in severely crowded cages that reek of feces and ammonia. These chickens suffer just as any other animals would, including Commander and Willow, the Bidens’ beloved dog and cat,” Robin Goist said.

In her letter, Newkirk also noted the high cost of eggs and the possibility of a worldwide avian flu as reasons to make a symbolic change from real eggs to fake ones for the annual roll and race.

I’m not going to argue about any of that. The price of eggs is crazy. There are outbreaks of avian flu around the world, though it doesn’t seem to pose much of a threat to humans in the United States. According to the CDC, if we still trust their numbers on anything, there was one human death from avian flu in 2022. Birds are another story. Tens of millions of poultry have been infected and died or were euthanized. Free-range chickens and eggs are a more cruelty-free option than the traditional alternative.

I’m sure it’s a less environmentally-friendly choice, but may I suggest plastic Easter eggs for the egg roll? My mother used both real and plastic eggs when I was a kid but I used only plastic when my son was young. It seemed more practical. If a plastic egg isn’t found, no big deal. Not so much for a real egg. That’s not pleasant. We kept the decorated real eggs inside and then they became a part of the Easter meal.

Put some candy or little trinkets inside the plastic eggs and it’s a doubly fun alternative. Kids love it. I’ll eggspect the environmental scolds to discourage the use of plastic products, but that’s not my concern.

If you have $35 burning a hole in your pocket, you can purchase a set of White House Easter Egg Roll eggs. I didn’t know they existed but here we are.

Hop on over and celebrate #Easter by purchasing your own Official 2023 White House Easter Egg set! This year’s set includes five vibrantly colored eggs featuring two whimsical imprints. https://t.co/2qTomJzibq pic.twitter.com/yrS1SKR1ie

— White House History (@WhiteHouseHstry) March 9, 2023

Introducing the Official 2023 White House Easter Egg set. This year’s set includes five vibrantly colored eggs featuring two whimsical imprints. The first imprint on the pink, orange, aqua blue, and green-colored eggs depicts the North Portico of the White House with decorated Easter eggs. The Biden Blue egg features a special Easter Bunny imprint with pup Commander, cat Willow (the First Pets) along with a friendly bunny.

Signatures of the President and First Lady are printed on the back of the four colored eggs and Commander and Willow’s paw prints are featured on the back of the “Biden Blue” egg. It’s paw-sitively perfect. Festively packaged, this Official 2023 White House Easter Egg Set comes ready to be gifted.

According to the website, The White House Easter Egg Roll is one of the oldest annual events at the White House. It began in 1878 with President Rutherford B. Hayes. Wooden Easter eggs have become the official keepsake, so maybe using wooden eggs is the solution if the White House does an alternative egg choice.

PETA hasn’t received a response from the White House. They are in campaign mode, though, so they just might make a change and take the opportunity to virtue-signal about it. Who knows? We are talking about the Bidens here.

The annual Egg Roll will take place on April 10 on the South Lawn. I’m sure no matter what the White House decides to do, it will be eggcitement for all.