WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on Saturday doled out presidential M&Ms and dried fruit mixes to more than 2,000 trick-or-treaters, marking their Halloween at a White House event partly aimed at honoring military families.

Dressed as superheroes, pirates, fairies and skeletons, the kids came in with their parents from Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C., lining up at the orange lit White House.

The Obamas smiled, chatted and passed out cellophane goody bags that were also filled with a sweet dough butter cookie made by White House pastry chef Bill Yosses and a National Park Foundation Ranger activity book. Mrs. Obama wore furry cat ears and a leopard-patterned top.

A big, stuffed, black spider dangled in a web of string from the top of the portico, and pumpkins had sprouted up around the columns.

The loot handed out was just part of the treat for the kids, ages 6 to 14.

"He touched my hand," said a beaming Tiera Thomas, 11, of Washington, D.C., after she picked up her candy from President Obama.

The Obamas spent about a half hour passing out candy to trick-or-treaters.

Then they headed inside to a reception in the East Room, where the first couple attended a reception for military families and for the moms and dads who work at the White House, along with their kids. The visiting children were chosen with help from the Education Department.

Obama thanked the military members and their families. "We are so grateful to you," he said. "Especially now, a lot of the times, you guys are separated. It's tough. The spouses who are at home are serving just as much as folks who are deployed. So we are just so thrilled that you guys could be here and we could say personally 'thank you' to all of you."

Michelle Obama said the kids were "just so cute."

Obama added: "They're adorable, as is, by the way, my wife, a very nice looking catwoman."

It was also the first White House Halloween for the Obamas' daughters, 8-year-old Sasha and 11-year-old Malia.

But the White House refused to say where Sasha and Malia Obama were celebrating Halloween and what the two girls were wearing, even though hundreds of other children their ages were in costume in full view of the media. The White House referred back to first lady Michelle Obama's comment to Jay Leno, that finding out what Sasha and Malia were wearing would require "security clearance."

Over the years, the winter holidays have been the ones to get the full treatment at the White House, with Christmas trees and tinsel all around.

The Obamas are not the first, though, to show Halloween spirit.

President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush hosted 500 children on Halloween in 1989, loading them up with fun loot but also teaching them about the dangers of drugs. The kids came decked out in costumes; some Secret Service agents came dressed as clowns.

In the Clintons' first year in the White House, the Great Pumpkin returned. A huge orange jack-o'-lantern was formed around the front entrance to the White House, with the front door to the mansion serving as the middle tooth. The first couple's daughter, Chelsea, was 13 at the time and the house was stuffed with pumpkins.

During the Nixon administration, first daughter Tricia hosted parties for underprivileged children, according to the White House Historical Association. And plenty of other first families got festive for Halloween.

No telling what kind of goblins might pop up this year, although stories of ghosts -- especially Abraham Lincoln's -- are woven into White House history.