You might call this green eggs and Bam, after President Obama hatched a whole new style of White House Easter celebration on Monday.

Among the innovations: The White House rolled out new "green," environmentally friendly souvenir eggs and invited gay parents.

"It's cool," said Norma Johnson, 44, of Silver Spring, Md., whose 7-year-old son, Benjamin, skipped the egg-rolling contest in favor of playing soccer with D.C. United midfielder Devon McTavish.

"The administration really reached out, and there are gay and lesbian people here from all over the country. It's a really positive first step, and hopefully there are even better things to come," she said.

Gay families were never invited by the Bush administration, but 100 couples and their kids crashed the celebration in 2006 to make a point.

The new-style eggfest got off to a slightly scrambled start when the commander in chief's microphone failed to work, and the thousands of people on the South Lawn of the White House were treated to Obama speaking into a giant Easter bunny's ear.

But the mike worked for the President's 10-year-old daughter when she tried.

"That's Malia, our technical adviser," quipped the First Daddy.

The Easter egg roll - where kids use wooden spoons to push hard-boiled eggs across a short race course - dates to the administration of President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878. And while the kids on the course used plenty of real eggs, the wooden souvenirs to be taken home were packed in less paper and no plastic, making them "green."

The First Family also hoped to push a larger point in between performances by the Black Eyed Peas' Fergie and the egg races - that being that kids should eat healthy and be active.

"We've got yoga, we've got dancing, we've got storytelling, we've got Easter egg decorating," said Michelle Obama before pausing a beat. "Oh, we've got basketball," she said to cheers and an arm-raise from her hoops fanatic husband.

The tennis courts were given over to roundball, where Obama helped one boy with a dunk.

PBS TV chef Jose Andres brought his daughter Luzia, 4, to the yoga mats, but was most impressed by the healthy food pitch he helped deliver.

"Food needs to be on the table of public policy," Andres said, though he wasn't necessarily thinking of eggs.