This weekend I was invited to the first birthday party for a friends son. In Korea you are born age one so this is his second birthday in korean numbers. 

The venue was something unusual. A high rise residential building by the subway had an underground restaurant floor. There was a large self serve buffet area in the centre around which were separate party rooms for different guests.

Each room had a greeter wearing bunny ears and there was a display table setup. On the display table a photo display had been set up for my friends son. There were also small jars to place raffle tickets. 

Inside the party room there was two tier head table setup with lots of decorations. After we had finished going for rounds in the buffet they began the birthday events.















 
First there was a lively baby slideshow starting from the pregnancy, birth, and thru the babies first year. Then the MC and his assistant did some bizzare arm spinning dance to bouncy K-Pop music. Everyone sang happy birthday in korean while the family cut what I think was a mock cake.

For the raffle you are supposed to place a bet what you think the baby will become. Then the baby will pick one of several items to see if you are correct. The choices were a pen for smart, money for rich, a stethoscope for doctor, and so on. Knowing his mum is a teacher I chose the pen. The parents also chose the pen. Luckily for us the baby ended up picking a pen from the basket.

Like Korean weddings people do not bring their own camera but instead there is an official photographer to take all the pics. Also like weddings you do not bring gifts or cards. Instead you give a flat 30,000w or 50,000w if you are a close friend or family. I thought you were supposed to give it in a nice envelope but people were just using the ones you get at the bank machines. 

The buffet had lots to choose from. There were western and korean dishes, traditional foods, sushi, and lots of dessert. This was quite a fun event and not what I expected for a birthday party.