Hoda Kotb family birthday celebration arrived early at her home, where Haley Joy and Hope Catherine turned the space into a birthday setup before her Aug. 9 birthday. Kotb, who is turning 62, walked into a room lined with rainbow streamers, shimmery metallic balloons, family pictures and a “Happy Birthday Mom” banner.
Kotb posted the video on Aug. 7 and reacted in the moment, saying, “You guys, this is beautiful!” The surprise also included food, plus King Harvest’s 1972 hit “Dancing in the Moonlight,” which prompted Kotb to say, “This is my favorite song in the whole wide world.”
Haley Joy and Hope Catherine
Haley Joy is 9 and Hope Catherine is 7, and the video makes clear they handled more than a quick decoration job. Hope even claimed the music cue, telling Kotb, “I know! It was my idea!” That line gives the surprise a sharper family edge: the setup was not random, but built around details Kotb would notice right away.
Kotb adopted Haley Joy in 2017 and Hope in 2019, so the birthday moment also sits inside a longer family story that has unfolded publicly over years. She left TODAY in January 2025 after 17 years on the show and 26 years at NBC News, after saying in 2024 that turning 60 made her feel it was time to “turn the page.”
Aug. 7 at home
That makes the birthday video more than a pretty post. Kotb is still publicly linked to NBC, but the surprise shows where her attention has clearly shifted: home, her daughters, and the kind of small-scale celebration that can be executed without a public event or a long lead-up.
For readers following Kotb’s next chapter, the important point is simple: her 62nd birthday is being marked privately, ahead of Aug. 9, and the most revealing detail is the one Hope gave away herself. The party was theirs to stage, but Kotb’s reaction made the family dynamic the story.
