The Obama family’s time in the White House may be winding down, but not before they celebrate their final holiday season at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And today, the White House unveiled its 2016 decorations. Once again, First Lady Michelle Obama chose veteran event planner Bryan Rafanelli to help execute this mind-bogglingly large task. Last year, Rafanelli and FLOTUS teamed up to ask American fashion designers to help outfit individual rooms. But for her final year in charge of the festivities, Mrs. Obama decided to focus on the idea of the gift. The theme refers not only to presents exchanged during the holiday season, but also to what a gift it has been for the Obama family to spend the past eight years in the White House. The highlights include tens of thousands of lights, giant replicas of the Obamas’ two dogs, Bo and Sunny (more on that later), and a shockingly large amount of Legos. Below, we’ve broken down this year’s decor by the numbers.
More than 200,000 Lego bricks, making up 56 Lego gingerbread houses in the State Dining Room
65,000 ornaments
More than 25,000 yarn pom-poms to create 8- and 6-feet-tall replicas of the Obamas’ dogs, Bo and Sunny
More than 8,000 bows in the East Entrance
7,500 strands of ribbon in the East Colonnade
More than 1,245 feet of garland
109 wreaths
63 Christmas trees
32 snow people
1 18-foot-tall Christmas tree
More than 32 event design experts working with White House staff and volunteers to help set up
More than 100 volunteers to help decorate
10 days to get ready