Melania Trump's Holiday Ornaments Line Is Giving Her A Grinch Reputation

Christmas has come early for Melania Trump, but not everyone is feeling festive about it. On September 25 — when most stores were merely revving up their Halloween decorations — the first lady dropped her latest line of Yuletide merch. Her website now offers the "250 Collection," a six-piece assortment of Christmas tree ornaments celebrating America's upcoming 250th birthday. The set includes the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and Mount Rushmore, along with more generic patriotic designs. Alas, collectibles don't seem to fare well for the FLOTUS. Melania's Mother's Day necklace and the first lady's Memorial Day jewelry were jeered for looking like cheap gumball-machine prizes, and now the new tchotchkes are getting a solid thumbs-down. "God awful ugly" was one comment on X. Even a Trump supporter admitted, "Melania is beautiful but the ornaments, not so much."

Beauty is only part of the problem. At $75 a pop, the brass-and-enamel baubles are pricier than your average Hallmark piece. There's also a $90 limited-edition "American Star" which looks exactly like someone slapped some paint on the star ornament from her 2022 collection. The seller, USA Collectibles, is part of MKT World LLC, Melania's own private company, and there's no mention of the profits going to any charity or good cause. Contrast that with the official 2025 White House Christmas ornament: It cost $24.95,  is created by a veteran-founded company, and benefits the White House Historical Association. "Imagine the outcry if Michelle [Obama] or Jill [Biden] did this," remarked one.  

The first lady doesn't have the best rep when it comes to the holiday season, thanks to the infamous Melania Christmas tape. Speaking with former advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff in 2018, she vented about being criticized for not helping migrant families while still being expected to perform a traditional FLOTUS job. "I'm working ... my a** off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations?" Melania griped (per CNN). "But I need to do it, right? ... Give me a f***ing break."

Melania's Grinch rep got a further boost from her choice of decorations. That same year, she showed off a hallway lined with 40 red trees which looked more like a horror movie set than a winter wonderland. Yet even that was an improvement over her décor of 2017, which featured an eerie colonnade of bare branches in planters. The underlighting only made the effect spookier and inspired a slew of jokes and memes like the one below.

I photoshopped Jack Skellington into Melania's Christmas decor and honestly I like it now. pic.twitter.com/hqx1QYBGhI

— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) November 27, 2017

Whether she likes it or not, the first lady will soon be heading up the holiday prep for the first time in her husband's second term. The 2025 theme hasn't yet been announced, but the White House is already reviewing applicants for the hundreds of volunteers needed to deck the halls starting November 24. We wouldn't be surprised to see a tree covered entirely in Melania's ornaments with a MAGA cap on top.