After our wedding, I remember specifically Joe saying he never wanted to plan another big party again…and he meant it! That’s the mood I was in when I knew the time was coming to start planning Lincoln’s first birthday party. According to Korean tradition, this is called a “Dohl,” and it’s supposed to be this semi-outlandish celebration that has the feel of a wedding.
Some are of course on the more intimate and casual side, but with family flying in from out of town, and with the help of a talented artistic friend, I changed my mind, laced up my bootstraps, and went to combat. You can watch how we prepped for this party in our video here: Party Prep For Our Son’s First Birthday.
By the time the actual day rolled around, we were juggling out of town guests, a newly mobile toddler, work obligations, and last minute DIY projects. We even ended up pulling an all-nighter the day of the party, making a video, and feeling like death on toast by the time it started. You can watch the details of this day and listen to us debrief about all the events that went down in our VIDEO BELOW.
And of course I had to share some beautiful pictures that our friend James took for us. And that’s the thing I want to mention…we could not have accomplished any of these things if it wasn’t for our community. One thing that I’ve learned from this experience is that you NEED the help of your family and friends when you’re trying to plan a party of this scale.
My friend Audrey came over every day for a week after work and stayed up late with me, hot gluing fake florals to foam and creating a beautiful banner from scratch. She took on the brunt of anything pretty that was written. You can read about her process and see more pictures on her blog post.
A few of our other friends pitched in here and there with set up or clean up, which was so helpful. And our sister-in-law Sharon thought about the details on the day of that I didn’t…like finding a candle and singing “happy birthday” to the birthday boy (shaking my head)! Mind you, I was truly sleep-deprived.
All of the rustic woodland farmhouse style decorations were assembled with Dollar Tree materials and thrifted items, but they ended up looking so charming, including my DIY white pedestal cakestand!
Our guests kept mentioning how we put so much thought into the details all around the room…like the trail mix bar, which also acted as our “make your own party favor” station. I bought all the stuff and Audrey assembled everything together. She did a really cute job with the bags!
The kids especially had fun with this interactive station, but the adults enjoyed it too. It gave them something to do besides sit around and chat, which I don’t think they minded either. They also got to watch our video we stayed up all night to make. You can watch it too! : A Love Letter to Our Son
Audrey is a modern calligrapher so she made most of the signage, like this adorable welcoming chalkboard.
I focused my attention on adding the personal touches to the main dessert table, like decorating the cake. We just ordered a naked cake from Whole Foods and then I used Dollar Tree succulents and a wooden cake topper to decorate it.
The birthday boy did pretty good that day despite the fact that he skipped a nap and showed up late to his own party! You can watch our video to see why that happened.
He just wasn’t a fan of the cake smash part, or wearing the hanbok, which is traditional Korean garb with a million crunchy layers!
He even held it together until the end where he was supposed to the “doljabi,” where he’s supposed to crawl to a bunch of objects and pick his favorite. This is of course just for fun, but traditionally, it’s supposed to indicate what he will become or what he will enjoy in the future.
He cried a few times from being overwhelmed and having too much attention on him, but he was a great sport and I think he secretly enjoyed all the love he was receiving.
I’m glad we did this party, but I’m also doubly glad it’s over too! It’s a lot to take on when you’re not a professional party planner and you’re trying to be thrifty, but still want it to look nice. We’re grateful for the friends and family that came to celebrate with us, and we hope Lincoln will grow up to know how much we all love him!
