yeah, non-Korean here and I looked at some of the pictures and it seems like an AWESOME tradition. I'd love to know more about it. Off to Wikipedia I go

I was just invited to a dohl at Palace, but it hasn't happened yet so I can't comment.

Can you please explain for the non-Koreans?

This is a helpful website for dol / 100 day decorations. We really liked their dol invitation cards.
http://www.littleseoulsparty.com/

I'm not sure how Palace is but there's a difference in Hee Been and holding your event at like Woo Lae Oak or Han Sung Oak.

Hee Been is a buffet, so your guests will get as much food as they want. Woo Lae Oak and Han Sung Oak are not buffets. When you do an event, they give you a price based per person, and they make enough food based on the amount of people that is attending your party. There is never enough meat to go around twice! In that regard, Hee Been is a far better deal, and their food is good too. The only problem with Hee Been is that their semi-private room only holds like 70 or so.

We had our rehearsal dinner at Palace, and the food was blah. (We chose it based on price and other accommodations that we needed.)

Then again, so was the food at an event my husband's high school (which was in Seoul) had for alumni at Woolaeoak, and there was barely enough to allow everyone firsts, much less seconds.

I suppose that ho-hum food generally is to be expected with buffets, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Final note: if you're inviting non-Asians, make sure they know what a big deal this is and that this ain't no Check E. Cheese's affair. I spent most of the party vowing to divorce my non-Korean husband because so many of his friends and relatives rolled in up to 1.5 hours late to what they obviously thought was just some kiddie birthday party.

I don't think your above quote has anything to do with non-Asians. Those friends were just rude. Who comes to a kid party 1.5 hours late? Kid parties hardly last over 3 hours! Also, at a restaurant! The restaurant will kick you out if you stay too long...

You're here now, why are you doing this shit?

"Then again, I suppose one could argue that having a dol at a restaurant with a photographer, party favors, and professionally designed balloon decorations is over the top in and of itself. . . "

Yup.

I'm the sister that the 00:10 poster mentioned, and my son's dol was actually at Palace because they seemed to offer the most for the money. Below is some information from my notes last year:

1. VENUE
Palace -- $29 per person for a buffet in a private room; will discount 5% if we pay cash. For the slide show, they have a projector if we bring in a laptop or 3 TVs if we bring in a DVD. They'll do basic decorations and will set up the doljabi table.
Hansungoak -- $25 per person for a buffet in a private room. They have a projector for the slide show but don't provide decorations other than basic table covers.
Hee Been -- $17.99 per person for a buffet; will discount 5% if we pay cash. 50 people for the large private room; 30 for the small private room. The large room has a projector. They don't provide decorations other than the doljabi table.

2. PHOTOGRAPHER -- Our photographer Inhar Chong <http://inharchong.com> was great, but if money were no object, we would have gone with Jennifer Kim <http://jenniferkimphotography.com> (We actually found Inhar because she did Jennifer's son's dol.)

3. CAKE -- Napoleon Bakery; make sure you give them at least 1 week's notice if you want a special design.

4. PARTY FAVORS -- We did little boxes of dduk from Siroo, next door to Palace.

5. HANBOK FOR THE BIRTHDAY BOY/GIRL -- We just rented a baby hanbok from Rose Bedding, on the other side of 236.

6. BALLOONS -- Can't remember who we used, but she did a fantastic job. I think she was someone that Palace recommended.

Keep in mind that our dol was pretty basic, as we're too cheap and lazy to go all out for a baby's birthday party (we didn't even do a wedding or reception when we got married). Then again, I suppose one could argue that having a dol at a restaurant with a photographer, party favors, and professionally designed balloon decorations is over the top in and of itself. . .

Final note: if you're inviting non-Asians, make sure they know what a big deal this is and that this ain't no Check E. Cheese's affair. I spent most of the party vowing to divorce my non-Korean husband because so many of his friends and relatives rolled in up to 1.5 hours late to what they obviously thought was just some kiddie birthday party.

Good luck, and have fun!!

My cousin did HeeBeen. Food was decent, atmosphere is questionable. Definitely do your decorating to avoid the strip mall feel once you're inside. They brought in flowers, colored sheets on tables, and tons of balloons for kids and as decoration.

Get lots of kids if you can. Too many adults make it a very boring party (Koreans are waay to self-conscious to really liven up a party... unless you get them drunk, but this is dohl... ha ha).

2cents.

HeeBeen - Alexandria, VA (about $15 / person - buffet style)
Han Sung Oak - (about $25 - $25 / person - not enough food for everyone to have seconds...)
Woo lae Oak - (about $40 / person)

We didin't have a traditional dohl (just threw a catered party at my house), but my sister had hers at Heebeen. Woolaeoak is also a great choice -- they catered my wedding, and people still talk about the food three years later. I believe there is a room set up for events like dohl, so you're also covered for paibaek (sp?).

As for photographers, I will get the name of one for you. My sister was pretty pleased with hers, and I liked the guy we used for Korean engagement photos.

If you are open to nonKorean photographers, Moshe Zusman is pretty fantastic. moshezusman.com He did our wedding.

I am planning my son's first birthday party.

Can you recommend restaurants to hold the dohl party?
Can you recommend a photo studio to take dohl pictures?