At the time of the party, we were complete party novices. This was, after all, our first baby. We didn’t even know anything about what a big deal a Korean first birthday, or dol, was, until we went to a friend’s party. Then we got to work. And it was a LOT of work. The cutest dragon we could find at the time for our dragon baby was Charmander, a Pokemon character. So we had Charmander on the mind as we put together her dol.
First things first, I went to Pinterest. I saw lovely balloon chandeliers. I thought, that doesn’t seem so difficult. Friends, it was not as easy as one would think. Not only did it take time to go through all our pictures and print our favorites over the year and punch holes in them, it was difficult to corral all the balloons from the party store. We did 18 balloons, arranged in 3 rows of 6, and that would be the minimum so it doesn’t look too wimpy. (Okay, so maybe it still looked a little wimpy!) It took time to then tie all the pictures on when I had a million other things to do, and as you can see, they’re not quite all the same length, which drives me a little crazy. Finally, we stuck a small piece of double sided tape to the top so the balloons would stay in place and not float off as people walked by. Still, it turned out ok, and I would recommend it, IF you have the time, and space in your car for all those balloons!
What I don’t recommend if you’re pressed for time? The paper hydrangeas we had in our table centerpieces! I purchased the petal hole punch, pastel pink paper, styrofoam balls, and pearl-head pins. We made eight and these are not tricky or difficult, but they are time consuming. If you’re going to do it, start early, turn on a comedy, and start punching the paper and pinning away! To be fair, they turned out well, and years later, we still have one (we gave the others away.) If you’d like to give it a try, here is a nice tutorial. We also included coloring sheets and crayons at each table, as well as mini Rubik’s cubes – we offered a prize for the first person who could turn in a solved cube.
We had the requisite doljabi voting; we forgot to bring cash, so the best we could come up with for that one was a $20 bill. (She picked the golf ball anyway, much to Mr. A’s delight.) If you’re not familiar with planning a Korean first birthday, it’s almost like planning a mini-wedding. There are a lot of moving parts, and it’s easy for something to fall through the cracks! I’m hoping to put together a party planning checklist soon, and will post on the blog when it’s done so hopefully you will be armed and prepared for this big event.
We had guests write a little message to the birthday girl and leave it on the “tree” which was actually dowels glued and wrapped together with a layer of white tape.
The candy table included little boxes for our guests to take treats with them, and we also gifted everyone with small boxes of dduk (rice cakes) and folded washcloths in the shape of a puppy (which is rather random, I know.)
The cake, smash cake, candy table, and wishing tree were handmade by Joy’s Cake Studio. Photographs are by Rose Chang Photography. If you’re here looking at this for reference as you prepare to plan a Korean first birthday, congratulations!! Let me know if you have any questions!
