--- title: Mandy Moore Gives This Is Us Kids a Birthday Challenge description: Ahead of the season 2 debut of 'This Is Us,' Mandy Moore gave her on-screen children a challenge inspired by the first episode of the show. canonical: https://time.com/4923516/mandy-moore-this-is-us-challenge/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-31T17:25:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:46:57.806Z og:title: Mandy Moore Gives the 'This Is Us' Kids a Birthday Challenge og:description: In honor of the Big 3's birthday og:url: https://time.com/4923516/mandy-moore-this-is-us-challenge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdabb60bca8962803/6988dbffcf40a8779bc4933c/this-is-us-mandy-moore-challenge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: This Is Us - Season 1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mandy Moore Gives the 'This Is Us' Kids a Birthday Challenge twitter:description: In honor of the Big 3's birthday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdabb60bca8962803/6988dbffcf40a8779bc4933c/this-is-us-mandy-moore-challenge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Mandy Moore Surprise the Kids From _This Is Us_ With a Birthday Challenge > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 31, 2017 5:25 PM UTC  THIS IS US -- "This is Us" Finale Event at The DGA, Los Angeles, March 14, 2017 -- Pictured: (l-r) Logan Stroyer, Milo Ventimiglia, Parker Bates, Many Moore, Lonnie Chavis, Niles Fitch, Hannah Zeile, Mackenzie Hancsicsak -- (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images) THIS IS US -- "This is Us" Finale Event at The DGA, Los Angeles, March 14, 2017 -- Pictured: (l-r) Logan Stroyer, Milo Ventimiglia, Parker Bates, Many Moore, Lonnie Chavis, Niles Fitch, Hannah Zeile, Mackenzie Hancsicsak -- (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images) NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 31, 2017 5:25 PM UTC Anyone who’s seen the moving show [_This Is Us_](http://time.com/4643022/this-is-us-nbc-review/) knows that birthdays play a significant role in the Pearson family — especially since the Big 3 (triplets Kevin, Kate and Randall) share their August 31 birthday with their [dad, Jack](http://people.com/tv/this-is-us-milo-ventimiglia-jack-death-funeral/). Today, to celebrate the birthdays of the Big 3 and Jack, [Pearson matriarch Mandy Moore](http://time.com/4819554/quick-talk-with-mandy-moore/) issued a challenge for Parker Bates (Kevin), Mackenzie Hancsicsak (Kate), and Lonnie Chavis (Randall), who play her on-screen kids as 10-year-olds. Moore asked each of the kids to recreate the memorable “banana nut muffin Twinkie cupcake situation” that Moore made for Jack’s birthday in the Season 1 premiere — in just one minute. As might be expected, hilarity (and plenty of banana cream frosting shenanigans) ensue. While Season 2 of doesn’t start until Sept. 26, you can keep up with the Pearsons by watching the challenge below. > [](https://twitter.com/TheMandyMoore/status/903276741757616128) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4923516/mandy-moore-this-is-us-challenge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4923516/mandy-moore-this-is-us-challenge/"},"headline":"Watch Mandy Moore Surprise the Kids From This Is Us With a Birthday Challenge","datePublished":"2017-08-31T17:25:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:46:57.806Z","description":"In honor of the Big 3's birthday","url":"https://time.com/4923516/mandy-moore-this-is-us-challenge/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","celebrities","viral","twitter"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdabb60bca8962803/6988dbffcf40a8779bc4933c/this-is-us-mandy-moore-challenge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdabb60bca8962803/6988dbffcf40a8779bc4933c/this-is-us-mandy-moore-challenge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"This Is Us - Season 1","caption":"This Is Us - Season 1","creditText":"NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4923516/mandy-moore-this-is-us-challenge/","name":"Watch Mandy Moore Surprise the Kids From This Is Us With a Birthday Challenge"}}]}] ```