Tol Birthday Party!!!!

On Valentines Day, we celebrated J's first birthday, or Tol, with family and friends. Though the party was a few days after his actual birthday, he certainly didn't know or care!

The festivities went really well. I had help from my whole family to get ready, either with helping with the decorations, or just watching J so I could clean. C BBQed the bulgulgi I had prepped a few days before. Mmmmm! We also had potstickers (aka mandu or dumplings), rice, meatballs, a veggie tray and quiches. For dessert, we had cupcakes and rice krispie treats, which were my way of presenting the traditional rice cakes. I even made them colored since one of the varities traditionally served in Korea are rainbow colored. We also stacked some fresh fruit and made gumdrop and marshmallow towers.

That was just the food table. We had a second table set up for gifts that was decorated with pictures of J, and the toljabee items.

The items we used for the toljabee ceremony were a mix of traditional Korean objects and my American take on it. Here is what we used:
Thread (yarn) = long life, Book = scholar, Money = rich, Computer Mouse = good with computers, Soccer ball = athlete, Spatula = chef, Reflex hammer = medical field, Crayons = artist, Bow and Arrow = warrior.

After everyone had arrived, I changed J into his hanbok for the ceremony. We ended up putting everything on the ground for him to choose from. He went straight for the book and even started to open it to "read" it. Then he picked up my reflex hammer. So our little man is a future scholar and medical person. (Notice I didn't say doctor... he would make a perfectly wonderful NP or PA or even a PT/OT if that is what he chooses! There are other medical fields other than doctor, though that is good too, but I gotta stick up for us "mid-level" providers!)After the ceremony and dinner, we sang happy birthday and allowed J full access to a cupcake!Last, I opened his gifts. He helped a little bit, but was mostly interested in tasting his new toys.

I felt fairly flabbergasted with the organization aspect of such a huge celebration and I wish I had had more time to talk to the guests during the party! But I ~think~ every one had a good time, and enjoyed the food, so I'd say it was a success. Next year I don't think we're having a party for him though. I'll do the every other year thing that worked for me growing up. :)