US first lady Melania Trump has been accused of being tone deaf after unveiling her White House Halloween decorations this week.

The first lady’s seemingly innocuous theme of autumn leaves and pumpkins drew accusations that the decorations were in poor taste during a US government shutdown that is expected to result in millions of Americans losing access to food benefits.

On Wednesday Australian time, Trump’s X account posted a photograph of the White House being prepped for Halloween celebrations.

The low-angle shot showed the staircases lined with dozens of pumpkins as autumn leaf streamers hung from the White House’s south portico.

While many of the comments on Trump’s site were complimentary, critics were quick to slam the motif.

The decorations come as the Trump administration reportedly declined to tap into billions of dollars in contingency funds to cover the costs of the US’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program amid the second longest shutdown in the country’s history.

Also known as food stamps, SNAP is the US’s largest anti-hunger program, helping about 41.7 million Americans to access groceries every month.

“Awesome, too bad millions will have no food soon,” one X user commented on the pumpkin-laden White House decorations.

“Instead of decorating with food, how about using it to give nutrition to the needy?” another said.

“Are you going to give out those pumpkins to the people who are about to go hungry from losing their SNAP benefits or you’re going to tell them to go eat cake?” a third commented.

The shutdown has strangled funds for American programs and public service salaries since Republicans and Democrats failed to agree to pass a bill funding government services past October 1, when the previous federal budget expired.

Congress must agree a spending plan to send to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

A stop-gap bill designed to avoid the shutdown was passed in the House, or lower chamber, but did not clear the Senate.

Ending the shutdown requires the two parties in the Senate to find a compromise that Trump will sign. Several votes aimed at reopening the government have failed.

The Trump administration has warned the money that supports the SNAP program will run out on November 1. The program, which dates to Great Depression, has never been disrupted by previous shutdowns.

Charities and advocates warn that most recipients who will lose their access to the scheme are seniors, underprivileged families with children, and people with disabilities.