what the DOHL!? (part 2) : by amy

Thanks to our super-speedy and talented photographer, Jea Lee (aka Tedge Lee), I can now share with you the details of Logan's dohl.  You can temporarily see all of the pictures from Logan's dohl here:

http://jealeephotographyblog.com/clients/logans-doljanchi/
password: loganchang

But here's a summary of this DIY dohl:

Logan's dohl at Stone House at Stirling Ridge (Warren, NJ)

As mentioned in Part I, we decided to have Logan's dohl at a place with super-delicious food (b/c that's always our top priority!).  We had a few meals at Stone House and really loved both the menu and ambience.  It's one of those farm-to-table types of places that happened to have a few really nice large-group venues on-site as well.  When we found out they offered a "southern comfort" buffet station, we were sold!  We did a lunch buffet with fried chicken, slammin mac n' cheese, roasted vegetables, build-your-own-mini-sliders (sirloin & tuna), sweet potato fries and a pasta station (ravioli in pomodoro & penne with prosciutto, garlic and onions).  Sadly, no pictures of the food b/c we attacked the buffet :).

Welcome display

My mother-in-law kept my husband's old hanbok (traditional Korean outfit) from his dohl and decided to "frame" it as part of the display.  As part of the "welcome display," I made a "Giving Tree" (based on the book) where people could give a word of encouragement for Logan by writing it on a leaf and hanging it on the branches.  My plan is to eventually make a little canvas painting of a tree and glue the leaves on the branches-- it would be art for his bedroom.  Since we didn't plan on hiring anyone for entertainment, I made "Big Kid Bags" to keep bigger kids busy, which included crayons, bubbles, sand art, and a home-made "coloring and games" booklet. (coloring, tic-tac-toe, mazes, sudoku).  As for seating, instead of making individual table cards, I posted names by table on an easel board (from Ikea!).

Treats bar

Since this was loosely a vintage-hot-air-balloon-not-quite-a-carnival theme, we thought it would be appropriate to have lots of treats!  We had a popcorn bar (got supplies and popcorn from Target and Garrett's, respectively) and beautiful hand-made hot air balloon sugar cookies by my old grade school acquaintance, Stella, from Pink Flour Bakery in Lawrenceville, NJ.

Centerpieces

I made all of the centerpieces for the dining tables.  Each centerpiece consisted of a large mason jar with flowers, a small mason jar with flowers, a cupcake stand with vanilla and red-velvet cupcakes (thanks to Pink Cake Box), and a bucket with a mini-bunting and table number.  I made all of the flower arrangements by getting mixed bouquets at Costco.  I made each cupcake stand by super-gluing this candle holder from Ikea to a small cake round on top and a large cake round on the bottom, making a two-tiered cupcake stand.  I wrapped the top tier with a little ribbon for an added touch.  I also made cupcake toppers which included a photo sticker of Logan (ordered from moo.com) and bought a scalloped-circle die-cutter to make my own die-cuts on cardstock.  For the mini-buntings, I cut and shaped pieces of washi tape and bakers twine, tied them to skewers, and stuck them into foam blocks.  And to finish the table off, each glass of water had a blue/green striped straw. :)

Memory Table and Dohl Table

I also made a "memory table" and the "dohl table."  We took pictures of Logan at every month, so we framed these and put them on display as a "memory table."  As for the dohl table, I was never 100% sure what this table was going to look like until the day-of mostly b/c my mother-in-law ordered all of the traditional Korean rice cakes and decorative towers, so I had no idea what to expect.  I just got some fabric from Ikea and put everything on top of it--  some flowers, his name (stands from Ikea), a pair of the most-delicious-and-beautiful-carrot cakes made by my sister-in-law and imprints of Logan's hand and foot at just 11 days completed the table.

Logan's dohljabi- He picked the pencils!

One of the traditions of the Korean dohl is for the baby to wear his/her traditional Korean outfit and pick an item that supposedly is the equivalent of picking his destiny.  Traditional items include money (wealth), pencils (scholarly), spool of thread (longevity), and a bowl of rice (never go hungry).  This was one of the few areas where I put my husband in charge of planning.  He decided to throw in a gavel (judge), a stethoscope (doctor), a Michigan hat (his alma mater) and a Penn hat (my alma mater).  Logan took forever to choose something but ended up choosing the pencils (though I did hold them up in front of his face just to get him to choose anything!) and then soon after, chose the stethscope.  Meh.  I was kind of hoping for the bowl of rice.

DIY hot air balloon photo booth

Lastly, I made a hot air balloon photobooth, inspired by this blog post.  This was probably one of my most favorite projects of the dohl.  It took me 3 times to get it right (inflating a 36-inch balloon is tougher than you think!) but it was totally worth it!  I made a mini bunting out of blue and red paint chips-- YES, like the ones you get from the paint department at Home Depot.  They not only have EVERY color, but they're also 100% FREE! :)  Just cut them into the shapes you want, punch a few holes, and run a string through them!  Voila!  Practically-free (and cute) decoration!  As for the rest of the hot air balloon, I pretty much followed the directions of the aforementioned blog post, and it came out great.  Logan kept blinking b/c of the flash, hence the one picture of him with his eyes closed so tight!  We got a ton of cute pictures of all of the kids, but above is just a small sample.  Bottom row, center pic is a picture with Logan and Miles' families!

So, that's it!  I got all of the frames, decorative boxes, vases and table cloths from Ikea.  The table cloths were actually just pieces of fabric (you pay by the yard), so I will probably save these for future parties or eventually turn them into something (curtains?  cushion covers?).  My house is now cleared of dohl stuff, which I am very happy about.  It was a lot of fun work, so I feel pretty satisfied.  It was a bit wedding-esque b/c of the planning, but once everything was set up, we got to enjoy ourselves, chat with friends, and eat a lot.  Most importantly, Logan had a great time at the party (no melt down!) even though he had no idea it was for him :).

P.S.: I just wanted to give a huge, huge shout to my husband, Ellie, Pacci, Reshma, Julie, Marcus and Danny.  Without their help, the party wouldn't have run so smoothly (before, during and after!) and I would've been a total stress-ball :).