When we started planning Lil Miss Wagon’s first birthday party, we wanted to keep things as simple as possible. We wanted a laid-back party where family and friends would gather and eat yummy food. We also wanted to have the traditional Korean Dol display table and doljabi. And that’s pretty much it!
The venue was the clubroom of a nearby apartment complex. Our close friends live in the complex and were able to rent the room for us. The room itself is a huge, gorgeous space with two living room areas (complete with TVs), a pool table, a game table, a shuffleboard table, a kitchenette, a separate conference / dining room, and a balcony overlooking the beautiful pool and hot tub area. We were thrilled to find such a great venue easy to work with and so close to home.
I ordered the invitations from an etsy seller. I purchased the custom digital file and had the invitations printed at a local printer. I wrapped the invitations with a pink satin ribbon and tied it with the bow of a hanbok (traditional Korean dress).
I wanted to incorporate LMW’s Chinese zodiac animal (black dragon) in a subtle way, since it’s tough to incorporate such a fierce and fearsome creature into a girly, pretty party for a baby! These Year of the Dragon stamps from usps.com fit the bill.
This fabric streamer banner was my big DIY project for the party. Thanks to my lovely friend Mrs. Paintbrush for all the tips and moral support!
The absolutely amazing flowers were provided by our dear friends at FiveFork Farms. They are a brand-new, family owned and operated sustainable flower farm. They are so new that they are still in the process of renovating all the buildings and growing areas, all completely on their own. I can’t wait until they’re open to the public because it’s going to be a GREAT place to take the kids. And it’s only half an hour away from us. My friend Lyh was a floral designer for many years at a place that rhymes with Pinston Powers. His sister and family recently bought this farm and they are pursuing their dreams! How amazing is that?
We ordered LMW’s cake from Montilio’s, the same bakery that made our wedding cake almost 8 years ago. LMW’s cake consisted of 2 tiers covered in fondant — very traditional with a quilted aqua bottom layer with little pearls (white cake with fresh strawberries, our wedding cake flavor) and a top layer featuring pink ribbon rosettes and a pink ribbon tied like a han bok (yellow cake with chocolate chip ricotta, cannoli-like filling). The bottom layer came out a few shades darker than I expected, but obviously there’s nothing to be done after the cake is made and delivered. The customer service has been top-notch, so I can’t complain… besides, the cake was still beautiful, delicious, and fit perfectly with the party’s theme.
I ordered a mini porcelain tea set from Cath Kidston and it was perfect to display along the bottom of the cake.
For the sweets table, I spent the night before the party creating the marshmallow pops, rice cereal treat pops, and oreo pops. All three are much simpler to make than cake pops, but still a labor of love! I also borrowed candy jars from a friend and filled them with pink and blue salt water taffy.
I ordered decorated sugar cookies and petit fours from the bakery that made the cake. I also picked up some powdered donuts to feature inside decorated cupcake liners.
I created bean and candy dol towers for Wagon Jr.’s dol, and I was able to reuse them for LMW’s. For the one with her Korean name and her Chinese zodiac creature (dragon), I simply peeled off the beans from WJ’s towers, taped the new template over the old, and re-glued the beans.
My parents picked up the traditional rainbow dduk cake (sweet rice cake) from a Korean bakery in New Jersey.
For drinks, we filled containers with pink lemonade, iced tea, and water. Of course I had to have paper straws to match the party decor!
My mom planned and (with the help of my dad and mother-in-law) made all the food. It was an unbelievable feast of Asian-inspired foods. It was such a huge amount of work that the food didn’t arrive until well into the party, which left our guests picking at a sad little cheese and cracker plate until lunch arrived… but I’m pretty sure the food was worth the wait! It was definitely a labor of love from the grandparents, and there’s no way I could ever repay them for all the love, care, blood sweat and tears they put into the food!
The menu included: shrimp summer rolls with two sauces (lime-jalapeno and hoisin), unagi sushi, inari sushi filled with spicy crabmeat salad, honey soy chicken wings, soba noodle salad, fried dumplings, and smoked salmon roll-ups with Asian pear, radish, and sprouts. The items we picked up to add to the feast to make it a little more kid-friendly were: turkey roller sandwiches, egg rolls, and cocktail shrimp. My good friend made california rolls as well.
At her doljabi, we presented LMW with three traditional items to choose from: pencil (scholar), money (wealth), and string (long life). She chose the pencil! Just like her brother 2.5 years ago. And of course it went straight into her mouth… just like her brother 2.5 years ago.
We ordered LMW’s hanbok from a seller in Korea on ebay. It took over 2 weeks to arrive, but it ended up being cheaper than renting! I ordered her hat from Little Seouls, and my parents picked up the shoes, socks, slip, and headband at a local store near Philadelphia.
We knew we would have the pool table and other items in the room to keep the kids entertained, but I also ordered a “decorate your own straw cup” activity. Since I knew kids would want to hang out on the balcony, I also picked up some bubbles (who doesn’t love bubbles?) and decorated them with washi tape.
The birthday girl did amazingly at her party! Not a single tear, totally enjoyed herself, and even posed for a few portraits at the very end even though it was way past her naptime.
Things we forgot: singing “happy birthday to you,” a custom painted sign by the lovely Waiting with Grace (aka Mrs. Cowgirl), and chocolate covered pretzels I made for the sweets table.
Things we skipped: a birthday hat for the baby, a happy birthday banner, a number 1 candle (and blowing out the candle), a smash cake, doljabi raffle, party favors (although we had the sweets table).
We had a smash cake, sang happy birthday and WJ blew out her candle on her actual birthday 4 days later.
Vendors:
Invitations: Tableau Party (etsy)
Fabric streamer banner: DIY
Flowers: FiveFork Farms
Mason Jars: Paula’s This and That (etsy)
Cake, petit fours and sugar cookies: Montilio’s
Tablecloth, tea set, napkins: Cath Kidston
Treat sticks, paper straws, washi tape: Sucre + Confetti
Treat stands: Oriental Trading Company
Dol towers: DIY
Paper fan decorations: Oriental Trading Company
Decorate your own straw cup activity: Oriental Trading Company
Hanbok: ebay seller
Hanbok hat: Little Seouls
Party dress and hairpin: Janie and Jack
Party shoes: See Kai Run
Photography: Brian Choi
Doljanchi: First Birthday part 6 of 7
1. Noelle's Dol | First Birthday by Mrs. High Heels2. Planning Jaren's 1st Birthday (Dol) by Mrs. High Heels
3. Jaren's Dol | First Birthday by Mrs. High Heels
4. Doljabi by mrs. wagon
5. Wagon Jr.'s Dol by mrs. wagon
6. Lil Miss Wagon's Dol Celebration by mrs. wagon
7. Evan's First Birthday Bash by Parties
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
What a lovely party. She just looked beautiful!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
beautiful! I love reading party posts. lovely details and omg my stomach is rumbling looking at that food!! whyyyyy was I not invited haha
honeydew / 7488 posts
Wow! Great job, everything is beautiful! I got my wedding cake at montillio’s too, yum yum.
pomegranate / 3768 posts
wow impressive! she looks adorable in her traditional korean outfit! and oh my, the fooooood.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
Beautiful party!
olive / 68 posts
Love it! That food looks amaaazing!!
blogger / pear / 1964 posts
What a great party! That food spread has me drooling!!’
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
OMG SO HUNGRY NOW. File this under “cruelty to pregnant ladies.”
Lovely party for a lovely little lady
grapefruit / 4717 posts
Stunning. Everything looks amazing!
bananas / 9227 posts
You did such a great job! All the food looks amazing! Everything looks so pretty and I love her handbok!
honeydew / 7091 posts
Oh my goodness – amaaazing! That food looks so good I feel like I could taste it through the computer!!!
It looks like it was an amazing day, and a fun party!
nectarine / 2274 posts
The food looked amazing, great party.
In Chinese culture it was the year of the golden dragon instead of the black dragon. I wonder if there is a difference?
nectarine / 2217 posts
love it!! mmm that food!! so good!!
and that baby!! she’s adorable! Wagon jr, too!
grapefruit / 4669 posts
Wow, everything looks gorgeous and SO YUMMY! I started drooling when I got to “yellow cake with chocolate chip ricotta, cannoli-like filling” and it got worse from there on…
persimmon / 1116 posts
THE. FOOD. Everything looks so great!! Love her traditional dress!!
honeydew / 7916 posts
Wow, you did such a great job with this! And I love the hanbok you chose for her
pomegranate / 3401 posts
LOVE how you styled everything and OMG I’m wiping drool off my computer right now….that food is TO DIE FOR!! Love the DIY fabric streamer backdrop! So Lovely!
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
What a lovely party! Wish I was invited.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
The food looked amazing. Volunteering my services as a food taster for the Wagon family. LMW was so precious in her birthday finery! Really great party!
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Love everything about this!!! You did a great job, and WOW! I can’t believe the grandparents made all the food!! Awesome!!
I love yooboo chobap!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
What a beautiful party! And I spy Janie and Jack! Loved that dress. Might need to hunt it down for Juliet now heehee
blogger / persimmon / 1398 posts
The party was amazing!!! (And the food delicious!) Seriously… you outdid yourself!!! I could go on and on and on… but you didn’t miss a single detail here. AWESOME JOB MAMA!!!
(PS – LOVE the photos!)
guest
So beautiful! I am literally drooling over that food, yum! Great job Lil Miss Wagon looked like she had a great time
nectarine / 2771 posts
What an amazing party!
coconut / 8299 posts
Everything looks amazing! And the hanbok bow on the invite and cake. LOOOOOOVE.
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
Wow! Beautiful. And now I want some Oreo balls…..
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
Saw it on ur blg yest. Lovvvvve. Uve given me the itch to get crafting for a’s dohl!! Beautiful party Beautiful fam Beautiful bday girl!
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
Dang. If this is going simple I can’t wait to see you go all out on a party!!! Beautiful.
Food. Nom. Nom. Nom.
coconut / 8079 posts
What an beautiful party! And that food!!! Makes me hungry
bananas / 9118 posts
What a fabulous party! The food, oh the food, I’m so drooling and wishing I was your bff
And the flowers are to die for! You guys look so happy! Happy birthday Miss Waggy!
papaya / 10560 posts
Loved reading this, what a neat tradition!
bananas / 9628 posts
everything looks amazing!! you did such a good job, looks like it was a really special day
blogger / apricot / 424 posts
LOVE all of it! She is just a doll
p.s I am starving now, can I please come to your next party!?
nectarine / 2886 posts
Love all the details, and love that you had a relatively low key celebration! By the way your parents are amazing, I thought the food was catered before I read the text of your post.
GOLD / papaya / 10166 posts
Wow!! Just wow! I love how everything turned out and I still can’t believe she’s one
What an awesome party!
grapefruit / 4671 posts
Wow, what an amazing party. The food was absolutely incredible.
pear / 1786 posts
Beautiful family, gorgeous party and ah-mazing looking food!!! The food pics made me soooo hungry!
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
She is looking more and more like gorgeous you!!! You have a BEAUTIFUL family and this dol looked amazing – you did a fantastic job!!!!
nectarine / 2600 posts
Everything seriously looks so amazing! I love the Hanbok you chose for her! And her headband! Looks like everyone had a really fun time!
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
What an amazing party! Everything looks so wonderful. Happy Birthday, J!!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
AMAZING party, @mrs. wagon!! Amazing. It sounds like you had a great time, too!
coconut / 8279 posts
o.m.g.
!!
what a BEAUTIFUL party!! and what a beautiful family you have
Happy Birthday, LMW!
pineapple / 12566 posts
Your family is ridiculously ADORABLE! What an amazing celebration. Happy birthday to your sweet little one!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Amazing! I love the towers!
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
Okay, this post went up while I was sick face, so I had to wait until I had full energy to respond. I have no idea where to start, so I’m opting for my favorite method of communication: the numbered list!
(1) I just love you & your little family! You are all adorable, and I want us to be neighbors. Will you please move to Texas?
(2) LMW is soo, soo, soo cute. That little flower dress is precious on her, as is her traditional garb. I can’t believe she’s one. The last year has gone so quickly!
(3) Your friend is super talented–the flowers look like the perfect compliment to the feel of the party you were going for.
(4) My mouth is still watering from the food pics. Seriously. I gained at least 5 lbs from scrolling through those. YUUUUUMMM!!!
(5) Everything looks amazing, and I’m officially declaring you Super Woman.
The End.
pomegranate / 3716 posts
What a wonderful party!! Holy wow, I can’t believe they MADE all that food!!
blogger / persimmon / 1220 posts
Your mom made all this food? I am SO IMPRESSED. And now I’m drooling.
honeydew / 7968 posts
Wow! Amazing party! Your kids are so adorable!