Yelp Washington, DC

Normally, u have to reserve 6 months in advance with a party of ten through your Senator or House of Representatives.  Unfortunately, I can't get a party of ten  Any help would be much appreciated.

I forgot to add that I'll buy you lunch!! :)

As difficult as it is to get inside after 9/11, I think you better offer up more than lunch.  Unless its lunch in Monte Carlo or something.  Especially for a party of 10.  WOW.

i dont need a party of 10.  just myself.  when u reserve with your congress person, u have to have groups of 10.  so lunch is good enough i think.

actually, it depends on your district.  my parents' county in VA doesn't require groups of ten.  you should try your congressman and then maybe your parents' district.

I understand wanting to go to the White House and all. However, I would imagine anyone with the influence to get that tour would be more cautious than taking someone from an internet site to the White House.

Jeff:  You hit the nail right on the head.  I'd only extend the favor to someone I knew really, really well.

I am guessing you're talking about the East Wing White House tour, since that's what they let you RSVP for with your Representative or Senator. If so, it's not that exciting. I mean, it is the White House but I left underwhelmed when I got to go while interning at the Capitol. The "tour" is just a booklet with stuff you read as you walk from ceremonial room to ceremonial room. If you haven't been already, I think the Capitol tour is much more worthwhile.

Now if you're bribing people, what you really want is the West Wing tour so you can see the cool stuff like the Oval Office and Roosevelt Room. You'll have to find a White House employee for that, but as people have mentioned, that's not likely to happen on an internet site.

Can anyone get Brad and Angelina to adopt me ?

Lydia, I'll second that.  I want them to adopt me, too.

I have a feeling that this Brangelina couple is pretty neglectful of their kids.

Well, with their money they can neglect me all they want! SHOW LYD THE MONEY!!! ;-)

Seriously, they seem involved but it must be really hard. I commend what they are TRYING to do. But if a lesson is to be learned, they need to take a page out of the life of Josephine Baker. Her intentions were the same and went devastatingly wrong. ;-(

Well, if it's about money, then I'd rather be adopted by Bill/Melinda Gates or Warren Buffett.

AGREED. ;-) But they arent adopting Black kids at the moment. I'm trying to get in where I can...

When I was still living in New York, my brother was working at the White House and arranged a tour of the West Wing for us. This was Christmas time, 2000, ten months, more or less, before 9-11.

I'm sure the entry process is much more rigorous now, but we had to furnish names, addresses and social security numbers so that they could conduct some sort of background check before we could go on the tour. I find that to be highly offensive.

The tour was nice enough, we entered through some kind of weird, below street level entrance to the Old Executive Office Building and were frisked and put through the airport security-type shakedown, which I also find most offensive.

We were given a tour by someone my brother worked with, a permanent employee of the EOP and she was very charming and was a gracious tour guide.

While it was kind of neat to peak in to the Oval Office and the Cabinet's meeting room and see a few other things, I didn't find the tour to be that interesting. And the reminder that we are living in a police state with far fewer freedoms than we once had, vis-a-vis the awful gauntlet one has to run just to get in, was a sad reminder of how government is less about serving the people that it is about the people being servile to their government.

The whole thing left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

Most offices don't require you to request a tour with a group of ten to receive a spot on a East Wing White House tour. The six month prior request time is the earliest time tour requests can be made. It's difficult, a lot of times, to anticipate wanting a tour 6 months in advance but during the busy tourist seasons people do plan these things out and space is at a premium. The White House also requires security information (the aforementioned name, date of birth, and social security number) a week prior to a tour, so just calling up doesn't fly. Living in DC it's hard to imagine planning something as pithy as a 20-60 minute tour out 1-6 months in advance, but I just think of it as common courtesy. It's you and every family from all ends of the US converging upon one pithy building during 3 months of the year (or at least mostly during the summer) - logistically, it's certainly a nightmare to filter that many people through such a limited space.

As for the security "shake-down," I don't see how it is an indicator of "the people being servile to the government" or how we live in a police state; the expectation that one should be able to waltz in to the President's offices and bedrooms is somewhat a self-righteous one. Historically speaking that was never the case so I'm not sure if you're claiming we have suddenly come to live in a police state or simply exist in a police state by virtue of living in the US.  The current security guidelines of providing your information, the expectation of not bringing a weapon into the White House, walking through an x-ray machine and having your bag x-rayed doesn't seem like too big of an ask or real inconvenience. If so, the past few decades of airline travel must have been a real big imposition...

Bob - You're just looking to find people that are interested in going to the whitehouse so that you have your party of 10 to book through your senator right?  I feel like people are misunderstanding and thinking you're asking them to get you the tour (not just volunteer to be part of your group of 10) but maybe I'm the one misunderstanding!

I am trying to get someone to get me into the White House because I'll never be able to get 10 people to commit.    Heck, I wouldn't mind jumping on someone's 10 list.+