HGTV's Napier Family Went The Extra Mile For Erin's 38th Birthday

Erin and Ben Napier's chemistry is just as adorable in real life as it was on the set of HGTV's "Home Town." The pair met in college when Erin had to interview Ben for their yearbook and hit it off immediately. Four years later, the Napiers held a lavish wedding ceremony attended by their closest family and friends. After the results of the lovebirds' home renovations were featured in Southern Weddings magazine, it wasn't long before an HGTV swooped in to recruit them for a show. The Mississippi natives restored historical homes to their former glory for hosts of Laurel residents while starting their own family, welcoming two daughters — Helen in 2018 and Mae in 2021.

Throughout the years, the Napiers have proved their sweet dynamic isn't just for TV. When Erin turned 38 in August 2023, Ben decided he would treat his wife of almost a decade and a half to breakfast in bed. But that's pretty hard to do when the birthday girl is a mother of young children since sleeping in late isn't likely.

To make things even more complicated. Ben wasn't planning on running to the corner store to grab a box of Krispy Kreme donuts. He wanted pastries — not just pastries, but those made at Loblolly Bakery, a 35-minute drive from the Napier home. He concocted a genius plan to make it happen, and the results were well worth his effort.

Ben Napier had to get up incredibly early to get Erin her birthday pastries in bed without her realizing he'd ever left the house. The "Home Town" celeb contacted Robert St. John, the owner of Loblolly Bakery, a relatively new establishment in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, about his master plan. St. John happily agreed to help; all Ben had to do was discreetly slip away to complete the pickup. 

On the day of Erin's birthday, Tatum, the shop's pastry chef, was in at midnight to prepare the morning's delicacies. St. John divulged on an Instagram post that Ben "snuck out of the house around 5 a.m. and drove to Hattiesburg where he slipped in the back door an hour before opening." Once he arrived, the handoff of delicious pastries from Tatum was completed, and Ben headed back home.

In a gesture that St. John said "makes all of us other husbands look lazy and unromantic," Ben was apparently able to sneakily deliver the boxes, emblazoned with "Happy Birthday Erin" to his wife's bedside before she awoke. Sharing St. John's post in her Instagram Stories, she wrote, "I am the luckiest." But as it turns out, Erin would have to return to bed that day for yet another surprise.

Ben Napier shared another celebratory Instagram post for Erin's birthday after his early morning donut run. It showed Helen and Mae eagerly waiting to run into the bedroom and wake their mom up. The only problem was that she was already awake and probably enjoying her treats. In the photo, Erin is seen lovingly embracing her youngest daughter. "They made her get back in bed so they could give her a BIG happy birthday," Ben wrote.

Erin only has a month to outdo her husband, whose birthday falls in September. She has regularly posted each year about her appreciation for her "fast driving, hardworking, thoughtful, and generous," husband, as she described him in a 2022 Instagram slideshow. Still, Ben is better known for making romantic overtures that prove their love is still alive and thriving. That same year, he gifted her with a break from all of her responsibilities, during which he created a birthday weekend of activities plus a future itinerary of plans she could enjoy with her friends and family.

We'll just have to wait and see what the "Heirloom Rooms" author has in store for her charming husband come his big day.