Ozzy's Chut Dol (korean first birthday)

this saturday we celebrated ozzy's first birthday. in korean, this day is called the Chut Dol, the 'first birthday', and it is an important milestone. in ancient times when infant mortality was high, if a child reached his first birthday, his continued survival was generally assured and thus a cause for great celebration. the tradition continues to this day. it's a fun and special way to celebrate the child's first birthday.

the invitations: i found some 'korean dol' digital scrapbook images online that i used to make these invitations to ozzy's birthday party. i printed out several copies of the flower and cut each part as an individual layer and layered them for a dimensional flower. the symbols on either side are the 'longevity' symbol. and the little tag is korean words that say, "happy birthday"

when the card is opened, there are two panels on either side. when these panels are fully opened, there's information behind each...one details a bit about the event and the other has a map to the party location.

for the party, we booked a private room at a korean restaurant in annandale called han gang. it is fairly new, and we didnt know too much about how good they were as far as Dol parties went. but the location was easy to find and the food was reportedly pretty good. so, i didnt let it concern me too much.

the day came and when we arrived early to set up, immediately, i was quite disappointed in their room set up (very very cramped! we had about 35 guests (pretty much all family members), but only half could comfortably sit in the private room, which we were told could fit 30 people...shah! not!) and even less impressed with their set up of the Doljanchi, the special table laden with fruit and rice cakes, symbolizing prosperity for the child's future. my sister, woo, and i spent hours the night before blowing up balloons and assembling a variety of balloon decorations to decorate around the table, but ended up not being able to use a lot of them just because the room was so painfully cramped. there was literally 8 inches of space between tables for people to squeeze thru.

when we arrived we brought fruit to be carved and set on the table, the restaurant was supposed to carve and artfully arrange them to look pretty on the table... for over an hour all they did was set out one of the watermelons and a plate of oranges. it took several reminders to get the rest of the fruit on the table and then all they did was slap it on a plate and called it done. i was really irritated by that. they were supposed to create a nice Doljanchi table, but i didnt feel like they did a very good job of it...it appeared rather pathetic, not full and lush, like something that signified 'prosperity.'

here's the Doljanchi table from mimi's dol......and here's what we got for ozzy's:

okay, so whatever, we made do...there were other issues i had with the general set up for first birthdays at this location...i wont go into a full on gripe about it all...but suffice it to say, as far as space and set up go, it's not one that i would recommend, but they did do a really good job with the food. unfortunately, timing was not one of their strong points, so the korean bbq beef didnt make it out to the guests until very late. rather than hold up lunch, i had everyone get food and had the servers come by the tables and serve the bbq beef as soon as it was ready to each guest. the beef was very good, but the portions were woefully small.



the main event at the Dol is the Doljabbi which is a ceremony whereby several items are placed in front of the child, the item the child grabs predicts the child's future. items may vary among some families, but the usual items are:

pencil, pen, or book: scholar/writer
paintbrush: architect/artist
calculator: math/science profession
soccer ball or golf ball: athlete
bowl of rice: prosperity/never go hungry
money: wealth
string: long life
microphone: performer/musician

some families put things like a stethoscope on the table if they want their child to be a doctor. of course, no one believes in its fortune-telling accuracy...it's just all done in good fun.

here's what we put out:


for this event, each guest was given a ticket to place their bets on what they think ozzy would choose.


i created this chart and made tickets so everyone would have a way to record their choices. it was fun thinking of ways to make each item, dimensionally, out of paper.

then we sat ozzy at the table where the items were laid out and waited to see what he would pick.
thinkin....thinkin... can you guess what he chose?

i thought for sure he would go for the calculator because he likes things with buttons. i was totally surprised to see him go for.....


the rice!

and the winners are..
.

uncle james!


and ozzy's paternal grandaunt!



well, i didnt win, but i'm glad to know my boy will have a prosperous future! :)

at the party, my parents presented a gold ring to ozzy...a traditional first birthday gift. in ancient times, gold rings were given as gifts to the baby to pay for his future education. today, guests give gifts of money, instead. the rings are often bestowed as a symbolic gift, a nod to the old tradition. the little pouch is called a Bok Jumunie which means 'luck pocket.' it's usually tied around the baby's waist and guests put money (or gold rings) in the bag for the baby. today, it's not uncommon for guests to give hundreds of dollars for the baby, so that is given to the parents with a card, instead, and not put in the babies pouch!

ozzy's Dol portrait with a mat for guests to sign and write their well wishes. i found the letters on the clearance rack at michaels for 50% off...they worked perfectly!


after our lunch, it was time for cake.

rob's aunt made all the yummy rice cakes: the square white rice cake with 3 color layers (signify purity and good luck), and the smaller round rice cakes, dusted with different ground beans for each of the colors.


mimi made ozzy's smash cake. i held her hand while she piped the icing to help her with the timing and pressure control. she had been looking forward to making this cake for many weeks. the little car is made of fondant.



and of course, i HAD to make a cake for my boy's special day. my husband would have been happier having purchased a cake, but i felt bad that i had made 5 cakes for mimi over the years and it was unconscionable for me not to do one for my baby boy!




the cake design was inspired by ozzy's Hanbok (tradional korean garb). ( i'll post more detailed photos on my cake blog one of these days and explain what i did to create it, there, rather than bog this one down w/all the technical details.) the cake topper, i liked the idea of a chinese cloisonne styled #1, some gum paste peonies, and some cherry blossoms on guilded branches. the little mouse i chose to do because ozzy was born in the year of the rat/mouse.

the top tier, i added some "embroidery" made with royal icing, copying the designs i found on ozzy's hanbok. i've always loved the look of the chinese knots, and they appear on his clothing as closures, so i used that idea to make some fondant knots. the butterfly knot on the front of the cakeboard was real knotted cording though. i looked online to find directions for making the butterfly knot and made one for the cake board.

the cake board is supposed to look like korean celadon pottery.

the lower tier i gave it a similar jacquard print as was found on ozzy's hanbok pants. and the stripes and bow sash are common features on traditional korean hanboks. the words on the sash are korean for "happy first birthday."

around the base of the cake, i put some of the most traditional Doljabbi items, each made with fondant. for 'money', i chose to make old chinese coins instead of american paper money.

i cant help but reflect back on my first cake for mimi. it was one of the first fondant cakes i had ever made. funny to see how my cakes have evolved over the years.


so, we put ozzy in front of the cake to sing to the birthday boy and have him blow out the candle. we'd been in training for this event for the past couple of weeks! :) he was getting quite good at blowing out the candle, although sometimes he needed help pursing his lips to direct the air flow forward, instead of up, as he was wont to do!

after several attempts, i sneaked in a little puff and helped him blow out his candle. i think the cherry blossom branches were getting in his way and throwing him off his game. ;)

then it was time for ozzy's smash cake. he only gingerly touched it and then decided he didnt want to touch any more. rob fed him a couple of bites of icing, but still, he didnt delve into the cake. seemed to not like touching it. so we gave him a fork and he enjoyed using the fork and mimi came by to help him out, too




after enjoying dessert, we cleaned up and headed out for some coffee...mimi and i had some korean shaved ice dessert called bing soo. yum. ozzy enjoyed some, too. then we went home and ozzy got to open some of his birthday gifts. his aunt hae and uncle james had the honor of having their present opened first...a very macho truck! his dream come true!



despite the disappointments with the restaurant, it was still a fun day. i'm glad we took the time and made the effort to do this for ozzy...it was a very special day.

happy birthday, bubby. we love you!

thanks to all the family members who took time off from work to come and came from so far away to join us on this day. having you all there with us was so meaningful, not to mention so much fun! thanks for all the extra hands to help out this day. i love our family! you guys ROCK.

here's a slideshow of photos...there were so many of them, i couldnt post them all on this blog.