With former President Donald Trump’s departure from the White House, a number of White House traditions fell by the wayside, beginning with his refusal to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration, and not necessarily ending with former First Lady Melania Trump’s refusal to meet with Jill Biden.

Why do I say not necessarily ending? It seems that unlike most administrations before them, the Trump administration won’t have its own signature china collection. While Melania had already selected the patterns and colors, she ultimately decided the china took too long and was too expensive, and the plug was pulled on the project sometime during the last six weeks, said a source familiar with the situation, CNN reports.

Every administration is given the chance to design and have its own signature china collection, obviously for entertaining purposes but also for the sake of creating a legacy and for future administrations to use. The tradition began with George Washington and most, with few exceptions, have followed through with this.

The White House Historical Association, a nonprofit, has paid for previous official china collections with funds from donors but according to another source familiar with the discussions of the Trump china collection told CNN the associations had “concerns” regarding the price tag and ultimately decided it was too expensive.

“The White House Historical Association was not involved in an acquisition project related to the Trump china,” the source noted without commenting on the reason for the nonprofit’s lack of involvement. The Reagan administration was the last one to not use funds from the association for the procurement of china.

Indeed, this endeavor is generally an expensive and time-consuming one. Planning for the Obama china began in 2011, with colors inspired by Hawaii’s blue waters, and concluded in 2015. In total, there were 320 settings with 11 pieces each at a cost of $350,000, which the association paid.

Laura Bush’s china set was even pricier. It consisted of 4,500 pieces and cost $492,000 and that bill was aso footed by the association. She also ordered a smaller set that was less formal, with 75 place settings that were used for entertaining in the private residence. The association didn’t pay for this.

I can’t help wondering how many homeless children could be fed with this money? As someone who has been poor, this seems extremely extraneous and foolish as people in the U.S. go hungry. I’m just hoping that since there will be no official china for the Trump administration, that this money will be used for something that isn’t wasteful.

And yes, I realize that hoping this is probably futile.