White House Halloween 2011: Bo As Superman

The First Dog is super rather than scary as the White House recycles a darling statue from the 2010 Christmas celebration...
A cute statue of First Dog Bo--or as he's called today, "Boo"--dressed for Halloween as Superman--stood among the hay bales, bats, cobwebs, and pumpkins at the White House as President Obama and First Lady Obama welcomed trick-or-treaters on Saturday evening, starting at 5:45 PM. (Above: SuperBo stands guard at the White House)

A light snow fell, following a heavy rain as a storm swept through the Northeast. The President and Mrs. Obama gave the kids goodie bags filled with a box of White House M&Ms, a White House Sweet Dough Butter Cookie, and a scoop of the dreaded dried fruit that the President publicly worried about earlier in the week.

“Let’s give out some candy,” President Obama said to the kids as he walked to the driveway. “I know it’s cold here, you guys doing alright? It’s not ideal out here.”

The kids were fine, and thrilled by the First Couple as well as by the 4-foot statue of the First Dog, which was recycled from the White House 2010 holiday decorations. The statue was first created by volunteers last December, using about 40,000 pipe cleaners. Recycling decorations is big at the White House: Today's decor also featured faux apples used at the most recent State Dinner, which were also re-purposed for a party Mrs. Obama recently threw on the South Lawn.(Above: The real First Do with his statue in the East Garden Room during last year's holidays)

Bo is big with kids: He recently had his portrait taken with his mistress in her world-famous Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn, as a special memento to be mailed to children who write to the First Lady.

Cookies in honor of the sweet First Dog are very popular with White House guests, too, though the cookies for this year's Halloween were in the shape of an orange White House. During the winter holiday receptions, guests who got ahold of Bo cookies, which came in a variety of versions, tended to pocket them rather than eat them. (Above: Bo cookies for the 2010 holiday receptions)

Bo also has his own White House baseball card downloadable here, and here he is with me at a State dinner.

*Top photo by AP; others are White House photos.