A couple has decided to include their children in their anniversary celebrations.
In a viral TikTok video, Anna Mellor (@mellorlite) and her husband transformed their wedding anniversary into a "family birthday" party for them and their children. Mellor, 29, told Newsweek about reframing the special holiday and what it meant to her and her kids. Since the video was posted on April 15, it has received cheers online, with more than 1.7 million views, 282,000 likes and over 1,100 comments.
"POV [Point of view]: You turn your wedding anniversary into your 'family's birthday,'" Mellor captioned the video. "The Mellors turned eight."
The clip shows the Mellor family picking up a celebration cake and taking it home. They lit candles and sang, "Happy birthday to us," before eating cake. The scene prompted viewers in the comments to gush and praise the idea, saying they will adopt it for themselves.
Mellor said the idea was born from the desire to integrate her small children, 1 and 4 years old, into their anniversary celebration.
"I've always looked at our anniversary as the day our family was 'born,' so I thought it would be fun to get a birthday cake to celebrate our 'family birthday' and tie it all together," Mellor said.
@mellorlite The Mellors turned 8 🥹
♬ These Memories - Hollow Coves
The family had a busy but relaxed day together. Beginning in the morning, they went to one of their favorite breakfast restaurants in Austin, Texas—with a kid's play area, of course—and had pancakes.
"It was pouring rain, but we still sat outside, ate pancakes, and let the kids play in the rain," Mellor said. "It rained all day on our wedding day, so it was kind of surreal to reflect back on eight years ago, waking up to rain on our wedding day—and now here we are with two beautiful kids, living our dream life, still in the rain."
Afterwards, the family went home to watch a movie and cuddle up on the couch. They eventually went to pick our their "birthday" cake.
"We came home and decided to go all in," Mellor said. "Put candles on the cake. Turn off the lights. Sing happy birthday. Singing happy birthday to 'us' was a very special memory and we definitely plan on celebrating our 'family birthday' every year."
While some in the comments mentioned the importance of the wedding anniversary being a date for the couple apart from the commitments of children, Mellor said they took this into consideration and made both work. After the children went to bed that night, they got a babysitter and went to an intimate dinner just the two of them.
"We talked about the past eight years and how excited we are for the next 80-plus," Mellor said. "It was the perfect day."
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