Biden to celebrate birthday with family, Nantucket, coconut cake

Joe Biden wearing a red shirt
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Joe Biden speaks to United Auto Workers at the Community Building Complex of Boone County, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, in Belvidere, Ill.

President Biden will celebrate his 81st birthday with his family in Nantucket, Mass., with a side of coconut cake, the White House says.

The president and first lady Jill Biden will travel to the Massachusetts island Tuesday, the day after his birthday, and remain there through the Thanksgiving holiday.

Joe Biden spent his birthday Monday at the White House pardoning the Thanksgiving turkeys.

“He’s going to do what they normally do, how they celebrate the president’s birthday, there’s a tradition,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

“They’ll be able to celebrate the president’s birthday as a family, together in Nantucket later this week and certainly will do that with coconut cake, which is something that they traditionally do,” she said.

During the turkey pardon, Biden quipped about his age and acknowledged that the longtime tradition fell on his birthday this year.

“I just want you to know it’s difficult turning 60. Difficult,” he said.

The president also noted it’s the 76th anniversary of this decades-long tradition at the White House.

“I want you to know I wasn’t there the first one; I was too young to make it up,” he said.

The Bidens spending Thanksgiving in Nantucket is a family tradition. While there, Biden is slated to call members of the military Thursday to thank them for their service.

Tags Jill Biden Joe Biden Karine Jean-Pierre

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