If you are wondering how to plan a DIY Doljanchi in Korea, here is the short answer: you do not need a banquet hall, a hired MC or a buffet. We celebrated our daughter’s first birthday in our own living room, borrowed almost every decoration for free, and did it twice in one weekend. It cost us a tteok order, some flour and a lot of energy, and it is the party our friends still talk about.
A 돌잔치 (doljanchi, first birthday party) used to mean renting a hall and inviting everyone from your cousins to your coworkers. The trend has been shrinking for years, and with a small flat and a mixed group of guests we went the whole way: home, small, and personal. This is the practical version of what we did, with the parts that went wrong left in.
📌 What our DIY doljanchi actually cost
| Item | Source | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Dol table set (scroll, plates, tablecloth, chair cover, flowers, 돌잡이 tray) plus the baby seat | Hwaseong City Childcare Support Center rental | Free |
| Table | My height-adjustable desk | Free |
| Dol tteok, basic set (ordered twice, once per party) | Neighbourhood tteok shop | About 50,000 won per set |
| Two birthday cakes | My wife baked them | Ingredients only |
| Guest favours | Custom mugs with our daughter’s photo | Per-mug print cost |
| Family lunch on day two | A restaurant before the party | Normal lunch prices |
How to plan a DIY Doljanchi in Korea: start with the free dol table rental
The Gyeonggi Hwaseong City Childcare Support Center (경기 화성시육아종합지원센터) lends a complete 돌상 (dolsang, dol table) set for free, and a 백일상 (baegilsang, 100-day table) set as well. We borrowed the natural-style set: a hanging scroll, a cake stand, ceramic plates, a tablecloth, a chair cover, a vase with artificial flowers and the full 돌잡이 (doljabi) tray. When I mentioned at the counter that a baby seat would help, they lent me one of those too.
The center is inside the University of Suwon campus in Bongdam-eup, run by the university’s industry cooperation foundation on the city’s behalf. Rental is one line in a long list of programs that includes the free toy library and parenting classes, so it is easy to miss if nobody tells you. Free Doljanchi item rental Gyeonggi-do is not something the expat groups talk about, and families pay real money for sets they could have borrowed.
The center keeps a dressed sample table in the lobby. It is worth standing in front of it for a minute, because it shows you exactly how the pieces fit together and what you still need to bring from home.
How the booking works
Booking opens by phone at a fixed time about a month before the rental month, and the slots go fast. The September 2026 notice, for example, opened lines on Monday 10 August at 2 p.m. Before you call, decide two things: pickup in person (Thursdays, at the Bongdam-eup location) or delivery by courier (shipped Tuesdays, at your cost), and which style set you want. In-person pickup offers the natural or walnut style; courier offers white or black. The number is 031-8059-1640, extension 608, and any extension from 600 to 609 will take the booking.
The official website (hsicare.or.kr) was showing a suspension notice when I wrote this, so the center’s Instagram account @hsiscc is where the monthly announcement appears. Check it, or just call.
Pick up in person if you can
I picked up on Thursday 16 July, two days before our first party, and returned everything the following Tuesday, which is the standard return deadline printed on the slip. That gave us the whole weekend. Picking up in person also let me see the extras on the shelf: the baby seat was not on my booking, but it was there, I asked, and it went in the box.
At pickup you get a confirmation slip and tick every item together with a staff member. You do the same at return, so nothing goes missing unnoticed. The staff were patient and friendly, and once you book they text or call with the things to watch out for. The one practical warning: parking at the campus building is tight, so I parked, grabbed the box and left.
What we ordered, baked and made ourselves
The tteok came from a shop near our flat: one phone call, a basic dol set for about 50,000 won, and it was ready on the day. Ordering Doljanchi tteok in Korea is easier than it sounds. Every shop has set menus at different prices, the basic one is plenty for a small party, and the individually wrapped 첫돌 (cheotdol, first birthday) rice cakes double as take-home gifts.
Planning a dol or baegil in Korea and not sure where to start?
If you would rather have someone call the center, the tteok shop or the photo studio in Korean on your behalf, that is exactly what I do for families like ours.
Ask Jin
The table itself was my height-adjustable computer desk, raised to the right level and covered with the borrowed cloth. Our daughter’s hanbok, the 돌잡이 objects and the cake stand went on top, and the whole thing looked far more finished than a repurposed desk has any right to.
My wife baked the cake. Then, because we held two parties, she baked a second one the next morning. The week before the party was chaos: one of us had to be with the baby at all times, so the other cleaned, moved furniture, shopped for ingredients and frosted cakes in the gaps. You do not need to be perfectly ready. Nobody looked at the corners we did not get to.
For favours we ordered mugs printed with our daughter’s photo and “Happy 1st Birthday”, one for each guest. They were cheap, personal, and people actually use them.
Why we held two doljanchi parties in one weekend
We split the celebration by language and by space. Saturday 18 July was for my wife’s friends, four of them, and it ran in English: one friend from our years in Japan, one she grew up with in South Africa, two from her workplace here. Sunday 19 July, our daughter’s actual birthday, was for my Korean family: my parents, my two sisters and their families, including four teenage cousins who filled the flat with noise. Hosting two Doljanchi parties expat Korea style solved both problems at once, and it is the part of how to plan a DIY Doljanchi in Korea that nobody warned us about. Our living room fits one group comfortably, not two, and nobody spent the afternoon waiting for a translation.
The first thing the Saturday guests did was pick up the baby. The decorations were background. On Sunday we went to a photo studio for a family portrait in the morning, ate lunch at a restaurant, and only then came home for the party, which meant nobody had to cook and the flat stayed a party room instead of a kitchen. The cost of doing it twice was a second cake and a second tteok order, and in return our daughter got two first birthdays and we got two sets of memories. If you have used government support programs available to expat families in Korea, you already know how much of this country’s family infrastructure is free once you find it; the party was the same lesson.
The three-minute video that made everyone cry
The most emotional part of the day was a video, not a speech. Our daughter was born premature, and I had a year of photos from the NICU onward. I put about three minutes of them into a Canva video with music and played it on the living room TV. Everyone cried, on both days. My wife’s friends had carried us through that first year, and the video was the first time they saw the whole arc in one place. They all asked for a copy afterwards, so I sent download links. Among personalized Doljanchi video ideas, “her first year, in order, three minutes” needs no improvement.
✅ DIY doljanchi checklist
- Call the childcare support center the day booking opens, about a month ahead; decide pickup or courier and the set style first
- Pick up in person on Thursday, return by the following Tuesday, and ask what else is on the shelf
- Order tteok from a local shop by phone a few days before; the basic set is enough
- Any sturdy table works under the borrowed cloth
- Bake or buy the cake, and print a small favour with your baby’s photo
- If your guests do not share a language or your flat is small, split the party in two
- Make the video early; it is the part people remember
⚠️ Check the current notice before you plan
Booking dates, pickup days and the available set colours change month to month, and the center’s website was offline when this was written. Confirm the current month’s notice on the @hsiscc Instagram account or by phone before you commit to a date. The same DIY instinct applies to other baby admin in Korea; see our DIY solutions for baby-related needs in Korea.
FAQ: planning a DIY doljanchi in Korea
How early should I book the free dol table rental?
Phone booking opens at an announced time about a month before the rental month and slots fill within days. Follow the center’s Instagram for the exact opening date and call as soon as lines open.
Where do I rent a dol table for free in Gyeonggi-do?
In Hwaseong, the Gyeonggi Hwaseong City Childcare Support Center inside the University of Suwon campus in Bongdam-eup lends 돌상 and 백일상 sets at no charge. Other cities’ 육아종합지원센터 often run similar programs, so search for your own city’s center.
How much does doljanchi tteok cost?
Our basic dol tteok set from a neighbourhood shop was about 50,000 won. Larger sets cost more; the basic one was enough for a party of six to ten.
Can I really host a doljanchi at home?
Yes. A borrowed table set, a homemade cake, tteok and a video are all a home dol needs. Guests come for the baby, not the venue.
Is it strange to hold two doljanchi parties?
No. We held one for English-speaking friends and one for Korean family on consecutive days. It suited a small flat and meant every guest could talk to every other guest.
Our daughter’s first year was harder than most, and her first birthday was easier than most, because we stopped trying to stage an event and simply invited the people who had shown up all year. That is really all there is to how to plan a DIY Doljanchi in Korea: spend the time, not the money.
