A dad made his daughter her own McDonald's, Starbucks, and movie theater to keep her entertained while they're stuck at home

• TikToker Mia Finney is currently sheltering in place with her parents at their California home.
• Mia's father, Ernest Finney, has been recreating his daughter's favorite places, like Starbucks and McDonald's, since she can't visit them in person.
• Mia has shared footage of the homemade experiences on TikTok, where all of the videos have gotten millions of views.
• "You're never too old to hang out with your parents," Mia told Insider.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Mia Finney, 21, is no stranger to TikTok fame.

The California-based journalism student has almost 4 million followers on the app, and she's been steadily gaining an audience since she created her account at the end of 2018.

"Starting in February, I gained like 100,000 followers each month," she told Insider.

It's not unusual for Mia to get a few million views on her TikToks, but her most popular videos to date feature a special guest star: her dad, Ernest.

Mia is currently sheltering in place with Ernest and her mom at their California home

Mia typically lives on her own, but she joined her parents at home in mid-March for the duration of the shelter-in-place order.

Much of their day-to-day is focused on virtual school and work, but the Finneys are also trying to have fun together. For instance, Mia loves movies, so they decided to have a movie night at home.

"I'm an avid movie-goer," Mia said, telling Insider that she and her mother went to over 70 movies together last summer.

Ernest decided to make Mia popcorn for the experience, and as they discussed the movie plan, the duo decided to take things to the next level by transforming their home into a theater for the night.

Ernest made Mia movie theater-style popcorn, which he put in a labeled bag, provided her with candy, and even dressed up as a movie theater attendant to show her to her seat.

Mia then shared a video of the experience on TikTok, and it quickly went viral, having over 25 million views at the time of writing.

"We did not expect any of that," Mia said of the attention. She told Insider she's had videos go viral before, but the video of her dad's home theater had "about 70,000 comments saying how cool he is."

"I was like, 'Wow, they really love you.' They love him more than me," she joked.

The success of the first video inspired the Finneys to make more TikToks together

They got inspiration from the videos based on places Mia typically visits in her day-to-day life.

For instance, she goes to Starbucks frequently, so they recreated a drive-thru experience in their kitchen for their next video.

Ernest made Mia an ice cream-based beverage, and she provided him with a homemade Starbucks hat. They used the headset Ernest uses for work to make his uniform more convincing.

Mia also pretended to drive by a window in the kitchen to make the video more authentic.

The duo also created an at-home McDonald's because Mia loves the chain.

"McDonald's is my guilty pleasure. No fries compare," she told Insider.

Ernest made Mia homemade french fries and a milkshake, with Mia joking in her caption that the ice cream machine at her house always works.

They used the headset again, and Mia made McDonald's logos for Ernest's makeshift uniform.

Putting together these viral TikToks can be a somewhat time-consuming process

The movie theater TikTok was created in less than an hour, but the McDonald's and Starbucks videos took a few hours to make because Mia created props for them.

The most time-consuming experience to create was a golf course Mia made for her dad in their backyard. She wanted to do something special for him since he had been spending time recreating the places she loved.

She said the course took her around four hours to make.

The Finneys use items they have around the house to create their videos, as they don't want to increase their trips to the store just for TikTok.

"We wouldn't consider that an essential trip," Ernest said.

The Finneys said the best part of making the TikToks is spending time together

"It's terrible what's going on with COVID-19 right now," Ernest said. "But with any terrible situation, there's always a silver lining, and that is that I get to spend more time with Mia."

Mia also noted that her dad was really hands-on with her school work when she was young, including helping her with projects, and this experience has brought that connection back for them.

Likewise, Ernest said that making the videos has given him insight into all that goes into making Mia's TikToks.

"That was like the first time that I really knew the behind-the-scenes and the inner workings," he said of his daughter's production efforts. "It almost brought a tear to my eye."

"She does it all and it's just fun watching her work," he added. "I had no idea how creative she was and how talented."

Mia wants to encourage her followers to spend time with their families

"You're never too old to hang out with your parents," she said.

"I feel like a lot of teenagers are like, 'Oh, I'm going to move out of the house and I'm not going to talk to you guys ever,'" she added. "I just think that no matter how old you get, you're still going to be your parent's child. And I just think it's important."

Ernest echoed Mia, saying: "I think we have a pretty loving and talented family," speaking of his wife, son, and new daughter-in-law.

"You always have family, and I'm thankful every day that Mia's here with us and we're all together," Ernest said.

The duo plans on posting more TikToks together, which you can see on Mia's page, and you can also follow her on YouTube and Instagram.

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