Olivia’s 100 Day Korean Celebration

A baby’s 100 day Korean celebration or “Baek-il” is huge in Korean culture because it represents her overcoming one of the most critical milestones of her life. Back in the day, childhood diseases were common and the survival rate was very low in Korea due to poor living conditions. Parents would often keep a baby inside for the first few months to keep her safe. Once the baby makes it to 100 days, the parents would finally introduce her to friends and family and celebrate with yummy food. Til this day, this milestone is still celebrated with the baby’s closest family members!

Olivia is half Vietnamese (my side) and half Korean (Jeff’s side). In Vietnamese culture, we celebrate a baby’s one month for the same reason. But at that time, we were way too exhausted from the newborn stage to put anything together. So for her 100 day (which was on December 5), we wanted to hold this special celebration in honor of Jeff and his parents Korean heritage. Due to COVID, Jeff’s parents haven’t been able to meet Olivia yet since they live in New Orleans. But we hope this 100 day Korean celebration and photos will brighten up their day!

The three of us dressed up in hanboks, which are traditional Korean gowns. Jeff and I rewore the ones that my mother-in-law custom made for us in Korea for our wedding tea ceremony. I searched high and low and luckily was able to find a mini hanbok for Olivia from 8.blossom! The headpiece is so adorable on her and it was a coincidence that our hanboks matched perfectly!

For Olivia’s 100 day Korean celebration setup, we worked with 8.blossom for the traditional Korean decor rentals. I found her super last minute (literally a week before) and would’ve been so lost on how to setup this tradition without her rentals! The package that we got came with all of the wooden pieces, vases, hanging linen backdrop, cushion, and a threaded ball, which represents a long life. I also got this 100 days cake topper and fresh flowers from Costco that I arranged. I absolutely love how everything turned out!

Due to COVID, we kept the celebration very intimate and only had my immediate family over. We ordered catering from Haenam Kalbi and everything was delicious – I highly recommend them! We got bugolgi, spicy pork, Korean fried chicken, japchae, and of course, kimchi. All of our celebrations always include my favorite cake – the berry chantilly cake from Whole Foods. Lastly, we custom ordered these pink rice cakes or “tteok” that say 100 in Chinese. It’s customary to serve these to family and friends for good fortune during special celebrations! Hope you enjoyed learning about the 100 day Korean celebration!

Event Details

• Korean decor and 100 day baby hanbok rental: 8.blossom (similar hanbok)
• Rice cakes: Pink and Rice
• 100 day cake topper: Amazon
• Berry chantilly cake: Whole Foods
• Food: Haenam Kalbi