Doljabi - Doljanchi Korean First Birthday Party Planning Source

Eli's "Where The Wild Things Are" First Birthday Party
VIEW PARTY DETAILS
Photography: Charles Jeesung Choe

Event Planner: Sky Meadow Place

Burbank, CA

This party was styled in lieu of the book "Where the Wild Things Are". Without being tooo literal, we have small tid bits and textures that paid homage to this literary classic. I love the rustic married with the sun kissed lighting that come through the trees. Nature, you truly are a wonderful element to any occasion.
- Sky Meadow Place

Featured Parties
Alexander's Little Camping Bear
VIEW PARTY DETAILS
Photography: Charles Jeesung Choe

Event Planner: Sky Meadow Place

Alhambra, CA

Featured Parties
Jonah's Nautical Themed First Birthday Party
VIEW PARTY DETAILS
Photography: Tangram Studio Photograhy

Event Planner: Parents (DIY)

Sunnyvale, CA

Featured Parties
Nathan's Modern & Industrial First Birthday
VIEW PARTY DETAILS
Photography: Jerry Yoon Photographers

Event Planner: JK Design

Berkeley, CA

I chose this awesome local play space called the Rec Room in Berkeley, CA that has a lot of the modern industrial elements that I loved - string lights, reclaimed wooden bars and tables, and these bright yellow metal chairs. I really wanted to make this a party that didn't scream "KIDS' PARTY" and keep it really clean with a lot of personal, handmade touches. Theme-wise it was black and white (my favorite color palette) and even though I mostly do wedding designs/calligraphy/hand lettering, I kept it super modern with bold typography, starting with the invitations - the enclosure and bow were made to resemble a 'hanbok'. I also used outlines for a lot of the typographic elements to play off of the idea that his life is his to fill as he sees fit. I'm sure you know the Korean tradition of picking an item that represents his future, and after a mega-meltdown, he chose a gavel! A lot of the signage wording was written tongue-in-cheek to fit our personalities and infuse some humor. Black/white and gray chambray was used to soften the overall look - used as a welcome banner as well as name banners behind the cake table. Rather than wasting time and energy on traditional Korean bean towers (dolgoim) I used vinyl letters on the chambray, hung on handmade wooden hangers. Food! We had it catered by a local Korean BBQ place and had a DIY bibimbap bar, which was a huge hit. Desserts were the most amazing ube cookies and an alternating chocolate/vanilla smash cake made by a friend I'd met at a wedding I coordinated. We also had our favorite ube ice cream from Cookiebar Creamery catered in individual cups. And my favorite touch was the custom portraits of each family/couple who attended, sketched by my kid sister - who took the time out of her busy college schedule to sketch almost 50 people! These were laid out at the entrance on handmade walnut photo stands. She also did a portrait of my son which I made into coloring pages for a fun activity guests could enjoy. As another fun gift for the kiddos, I handmade bowties and hair clips using the same chambray fabric.
- Ji Kim-Fung (JK Design)

Featured Parties
The Very Hungry Caterpillar First Birthday Party
VIEW PARTY DETAILS
Photography: Cathy Murai Photography

Event Planner: One Sweet Day

Los Angeles, CA

Words cannot express how amazing this party was! The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is Kaia’s favorite book so it was the perfect theme for her party. With some help from the event planners, One Sweet Day, Kaia’s parents did a wonderful job putting together such a fabulous birthday party! Look at these gorgeous set-ups! The welcome table, the head table, the stunning cake from Cake Creamery, etc…. everything was absolutely adorable that I enjoyed capturing all the fun details!
- Cathy Murai Photography

Featured Parties
Shiloh's Ethereal & Whimsical First Birthday Party
VIEW PARTY DETAILS
Photography: Erin Saldana Photography

Event Planner: Modern Dame

Pasadena, CA

Featured Parties

Learn all about the traditions of a Korean first birthday celebration. See how you can implement this fun tradition to your little one’s first birthday!

Learn about Doljabi

Vendor Guide

We strive to maintain a high quality vendor directory that is monitored daily to bring you accurate and relevant vendors tailored to your needs. Find out everything you need to know about our vendor directory.

About our Vendor Program

Frequently Asked Questions

Whether you’re a parent looking to plan your child’s 1st birthday party or a vendor looking to join our vendor program, view some of our frequently asked questions. If this didn’t answer your question, please ask us!

Frequently Asked Questions

Search Vendor Directory

Trends and Ideas around Instagram (#Doljabi #Doljanchi #koreanfirstbirthday)

Just found out that this first birthday we ...

View

Feb 28

215 9

Open

Just found out that this first birthday we designed 2 years ago was featured on popsugarmoms and we are so honored! It's still one of our favs and we're looking forward to more kids parties this year ☺️photo by our dearest friend _sunnyykim & sources tagged

Such a beautiful shot #hanbok #doljanchi ...

View

Aug 24

103 2

Open

Such a beautiful shot #hanbok #doljanchi #thankyousophie #EbonyGrace #firstbirthday #plumblossom

Jjangie, feliz un año!!! ✨🎉🎈🎁 #jjangie...

View

May 29

205 1

Open

Jjangie, feliz un año!!! ✨🎉🎈🎁 #jjangie #jaeyul #jjang #minhwan #choiminhwan #minari #yulhee #doljanchi #짱 #짱이 #짱이아빠 #재율 #율희 #살림남

The loveliest morning we've had in a while......

View

Jul 25

1666 42

Open

The loveliest morning we've had in a while... Happy birthday to my brave little possum. Needless to say, she hasn't been herself these past few days and has just wanted extra snuggles from mom and dad so she was super reluctant to do the "doljabi" ritual (where she crawls to the item that tells us what she'll be in the future!). However, we did a makeshift one where I held her and laid out all the items into my hanbok lap and she chose a stethoscope!! ;) My mom tried to shove money at her but she wasn't interested. :) She'll be a humanitarian doctor traveling the world helping people in need. :) #lovekoreanrituals #doljabi #doljanchi #happybirthdayelsiepobke #elsieandpippa

Our little guy’s first of many many many ...

View

Feb 10

1205 32

Open

Our little guy’s first of many many many parties. Happy birthday Vaughn. #love #1stbirthday #baby #koreanbirthday #dol #doljanchi #dohl

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

There has been a problem with your Instagram Feed.

Note: These are Instagram Feeds retrieved using hashtags added for the convenience of users browsing our site. These photos are not hosted on our site, and is not the property of doljabi.com

View All