birthday preparation cramming

we've had a hectic month and i've gotten seriously behind on these grand plans to try to DIY alison's birthday decor.  her birthday is in less than 1 week... ahhhhh!  OMG --- she is 1 already!!

i'm trying to have a mostly westernized birthday with the korean tradition kind of mixed in.  i'm probably the whitest korean so my attempts might be poor.  on the korean side of things, i'm going to set up the dol table (birthday table with various fruits, cake, and rice cakes, but no real rice cakes for me) and going to have alison play the grab game where she has to pick from the following to indicate her future:

string: she will live a long life
pencil: she will be a good student
money: she will be wealthy
rice: she will not go hungry... in this day and age, she will be overweight
scissors: she will be crafty and creative
knife: she will be a chef

i don't have a han bok (traditional korean dress) for alison but my mom is insistent that she put one on some time during the party so i'm going to ask my SIL if i can borrow her daughters hanbok.

i ordered invitations from tinyprints even though i very briefly entertained the idea of making them myself. 

Invite

the DIY stuff

banner:  i had a banner designed by my sister's friend then had it printed at kinkos. there is this really huge mirror behind where the dol table goes that would create a nightmare for picture taking so it has to be covered.

balloons: i'm going to enlist in people to help me make balloon decorations in the shape of flowers.  here's an example:

Balloon flowers

centerpieces:  i need to buy vases and flowers.  i think i may be crazy for thinking that i can make 10 centerpieces myself.  i just couldn't justify hiring a florist to deliver flowers to the venue for just 10 smallish centerpieces, but now i'm seriously contemplating it.
 
dol table decor: i made these fake rice cake towers out of pink, red, and brown M&M's.  i just hope i spelled alison's name out in korean phonetically correct.  pictures to come later.

slideshow: i just finished the birthday slideshow tonight and in making the slideshow, i realized that i cut off the top of alison's head in  so many pictures. i'm so focused on capturing the moment that i forget that i need to take the whole picture. a couple examples:

cake:  of course, cheesecake!  how can we not serve cheesecake at cheesecake factory?  i'm also having my cousin (Filigree Cakes) make a smaller cake for alison to have for herself.  

my current problem is finding something to wear.  i'm in that stage where maternity clothes make me look way more pregnant than i am but real clothes, even bigger sizes don't fit right.  i feel very fat these days.