DALTON, Ga. — With a shelter-in-place order and social distancing guidelines in place due to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, triplets Anna, Elisabeth and Natalie Snow were sure they wouldn’t have a party for their 11th birthday.

But thanks to some family members, friends and teachers, their neighborhood in Varnell turned into the site of a drive-thru birthday parade on Tuesday.

“They were honking and stuff, and I didn’t know what was happening at first,” Anna said. “I didn’t think that I was going to get to have a birthday party. When I saw the cards, it was like, wow.”

“When they got here, it was about 12 cars, and they had neighbors, their teachers and friends from their class,” said Kim Snow, the triplets’ mom. “It kind of surprised me, too. They (the triplets) were so excited, they said it was the best birthday ever.”

With the birthday approaching, Kim Snow asked Rebekah Conner if the family could drive by Conner’s house to wave at Addison, a friend of the triplets.

“I said, ‘You know what, why don’t you let us drive by your house?’” Conner recalled.

Conner contacted the parents of other school-age friends and the triplets’ teacher at Varnell Elementary School, Morgan Herbort. The parade participants decorated their cars and made colorful cards for Anna, Elisabeth and Natalie, then met up about 10 minutes before they were set to drive by the Snows’ house.

“There were cars there that I didn’t even recognize at first, so I don’t know how they knew,” Conner said. “But we were grateful.”

After circling the block — honking horns and yelling all the way — the group stopped in front of the Snow house and sang “Happy Birthday.”

Even without a pandemic like COVID-19, the Snow family has to be careful with health issues. Kim Snow has a form of leukemia, and is still undergoing chemotherapy during the outbreak.

“Everyone is supposed to stay at home, but it’s a little more scary for us,” she said.

“They’re a sweet family, and they’ve been through a lot,” Conner said. “We were happy to do something for them. We have a pretty tight-knit community here.”

Kim Snow said the parade broke up the monotony of sheltering at home for the triplets.

“They really missed their friends,” she said. “That’s definitely been the part that they missed most about not being able to go to school. It made it a great day.”