The sweetest thing about this birthday might not be actually be the cake.
Former TODAY anchor Hoda Kotb shared an adorable video of a surprise that her daughters Haley Joy, 9, and Hope Catherine, 7, cooked up just ahead of her big day on Aug. 9.
The two girls managed to turn their home into the coolest birthday venue. And Kotb, who is turning 62 years old, was simply shocked.
“You guys, this is beautiful!” Kotb says in the video, posted on Instagram Aug. 7.
In the clip, Kotb walks down a hallway, through some rainbow streamers and into the living room where the area is decked out in shimmery, metallic balloons, family pictures and a big “Happy Birthday Mom” banner. Kotb’s dog Waffles appears to be equally stoked about the surprise.
King Harvest’s 1972 hit “Dancing in the Moonlight” plays in the background.
“This is my favorite song in the whole wide world,” an ecstatic Kotb says.
Hope quickly responds by telling her mom, ““I know! It was my idea!”
The celebration continued with some food as well, the video shows.
Kotb has had some pretty memorable birthdays, including several celebrations on the show. The longtime journalist and television personality — who adopted her first daughter, Haley, in 2017, and second child, Hope, in 2019 — ended up making a major life decision amid her 60th birthday celebration. It was then that she felt it was time to begin thinking about a departure from the show.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” an emotional Kotb said on TODAY in 2024. “I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, ‘This is what the top of the wave feels like for me.’ And I thought it can’t get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on.”
Kotb, who currently hosts podcast “Making Space with Hoda Kotb” said she hoped to spend more time with her daughters.
Kotb, who left TODAY in January 2025 after 17 years on the show and 26 years at NBC News, has remained part of the NBC family. Her final formal day with the show ended with Kotb driving away in a minivan with her daughters.
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