Ascher's 1st Birthday "Dol" | Los Angeles, CA

Written by: Asher's Mommy


We ran through over 20 theme ideas (even sketching several of them out) before settling on the idea of hot air balloons.  This party meant a lot to us.  We just wanted everything to be perfect...




Just to give a little background, Ascher arrived 3.5 weeks before he was due - just at the cusp of him getting classified as a preemie (which meant having to get admitted into the NICU).  Thank GOD.  He was tiny - 6 lbs 1 oz, and 19 inches long.  But he was "perfect" as declared by the pediatrician after the various newborn examinations.  I am NOT an emotional person but both Seung Yun and I were completely & totally overwhelmed by emotion and tear at the first glimpse of him.

Nonetheless, the first months were tough.  It's hard enough trying to adjust to the new baby, and to feed & change him round the clock (hard to believe/explain that feeding, changing, putting to sleep a baby every 2-4 hour cycle literally takes up all of your time)...  But on the 5th day, the lactation consultant at the hospital told us to go over to the pediatrics department as he looked yellow and she suspected jaundice.  This was the beginning of a very arduous few weeks. 




By the following Tuesday (about 1/2 week later), we would have made a trip to the pediatrics department FIVE times.  And on that Tuesday, the doctor decided to get Ascher admitted to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) for phototherapy not because his bilirubin level was super high but because he wasn't getting better fast enough (mind you, I had inquired about phototherapy a few days before because I thought it'd be nice to just nip the jaundice in the bud, and at the time, the doc didn't think it was necessary, again, because his bili level wasn't high enough).  We barely got any shut-eye while at the hospital (maybe 2-3 hrs during the 2 days that we were there) because Ascher's eye-protector head wrap thing kept slipping off (talk about poor design & terrible fit!) and the last thing we wanted was to ruin his retina on top of everything. 




Fortunately, we got discharged on Xmas Eve, and didn't have to actually spend Xmas at the hospital.  From there, I stopped counting but there were a few more follow-up visits for jaundice and also for his weight gain (not only did Ascher have jaundice, but he wasn't quite gaining weight fast enough in the earlier weeks).  But I'm happy to report, that, by his 1-month check-up, he had started to gain weight very well and the doctor declared that there be no more need for jaundice check-ups (*whew!*).

Ascher has been an absolute treasure, a complete blessing, and pure joy to have in our lives.  As much as the first days, weeks, months overflowed with anxiety & worry, Ascher has continued to grow & develop so well & wonderfully.  He accorded us so much worry & scare with the jaundice hospitalization but he's been a such a good son ("hyo ja") and hasn't been sick since (not even a little cold)!

The 1st birthday is a big deal as it is in Korean tradition, but we especially wanted to take the opportunity to commemorate the incredible journey.  Party needed to be perfect - it was such a momentous occasion afterall - but without breaking the bank.  We wanted our guests to come and celebrate Ascher with us, and enjoy themselves all the while partaking in a bit of Korean tradition.

Every aspect of the party has been thought through.  Since it's a Korean birthday celebration and we had quite a few non-Korean guests, we wanted to have Korean food served to our guests.  Seung Yun and I are a bit of foodies so we didn't want to settle for mediocre Korean food, and Yong Su San is known for their good food.  This was the same reasoning behind choosing the dduk jip that we did - San Soo Dang probably has the best dduk in Los Angeles - and the birthday cake. :)  I really wrestled with the idea of doing my own decorations & table set-ups, but working full-time didn't allow me much time once I was home without sacrificing time spent with my son.  So after having interviewed several balloon vendors, we went with the one who provided the best quote but also the one who understood my vision for the party the most. 




We designed and produced all of our stationaries ourselves - the invitation, guest notecards, and the thank you card.  The color palette was inspired by what was available at Paper Source. ;)  Ascher being a boy, I definitely wanted it to be obvious that the party was that of a boy.  So blue.  I picked different hues of blue to communicate a certain lightness (it was a kid's party after all) that wasn't too childish and also a level of elegance & sophistication.  Then I chose a orangish-red ("papaya") as an accent color.  Our balloon decorator took my invitation and based the design (almost exactly) and colors for the background banner to hang behind the main dol table.



When we chose hot air balloons as our party theme, what we envisioned is that the table centerpieces show at different heights to simulate a group of hot air balloons rising into the air.  Hot air balloons rising up as our hopes and aspirations for Ascher. :)  Just as he fought off and rose above his illness in the early days (I realize that jaundice is common amongst the Asian babies, but the incidence had us really freaked out).



We wanted our guests to have fun and actually understand what was going on - so I designed a flyer to leave at each table explaining the traditional celebration and what various aspects and items meant.  I decorated the flyer with the same hot air balloon images as the guest note cards.  I (with help from my best friend Grace!) also painstakingly made close to 100 mini paper-flowers that we tied around each cloth napkin as napkin holders.  I slipped in the day's menu on top of each napkin just below the flower.  I picked out a representative picture from each month of Ascher's life to use as the table # sign (i.e. 1st month as table #1, etc).  For our little guests, I put together a personalized goodie bag of coloring booklet, crayons, stickers, and age-approriate snacks & book.  I printed out the same hot air balloon images in various colors & design to use as name tags to tie to the goodie bags.




One of the highlight of the day was the slideshow put together by Seung Yun.  It was less than 10 minutes, but it was such a fabulous way to showcase more pictures from his 1st year (other than the ones that were already peppered throughout the room), and that of our family.  It was touching even for us to watch it but for our guests as well.  Seung Yun put in many late nights working on this movie to bring together his vision and to tell a story, and even mixed in a few of the countless short video clips that we have of our little boy just perfectly along with the various songs that we carefully hand-picked.  He had really put his personal touch on it and with his sense of humor that shone through the slideshow, it made our guests (and us!) laugh and cry.



It rained on the day-of and many things did not go as planned.  Despite it all (and my being very harried in the beginning), the party was a hit and our guests repeatedly told me how great everything was for a few weeks afterwards.  Yay! And that's how we closed the chapter on the 1st year of Ascher's life.  It really went by in a flash, but so much has happened in that time nonetheless.  Ascher's every single little moments will always be treasured.

:: Credits ::

- Photography: connie M chung Photography (ever so wonderful & talented!) www.connieMchung.com
- Event by Ascher's Mom Production
- Invitation & guest cards designed & printed by Ascher's Mom
- Slideshow: Ascher's Dad
- Venue: Yong Su San 950 S. Vermont Ave., LA 90006 (213)388-3042
- Decorations & balloons: Ruru Party - [email protected]
- Dduk: San Soo Dang 761 S. Vermont Ave., LA 90005 (213)487-1717
- Cake: Triple Berry Shortcake from Sweet Lady Jane Bakery www.sweetladyjane.com
- Hair/makeup: Etude Lounge www.elbeauty.com

Comments

[connieMchung]

thanks so much for the feature! xo!

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[Una Chung-Iwasaka]

Hi Asher's Mommy!

I love all your wonderful ideas. I especially like your flyer that you put on the table for people to understand the meaning of the dol....Most of our guests are going to be non-Korean as well. Would you mind sharing what you wrote about? I'd greatly appreciate it! My son's dol is SUNDAY -- in 1 week! And time is running out on me :(. I'm trolling the internet for some last minute ideas and your flyer idea is particularly fabulous. Many thanks!
- Una

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