Being part of a fanbase can be an amazing way to make friends and connect with others. Of course, social media makes it easier to talk to other fans who love what we love too. However, fanbases often take their enthusiasm beyond social media and find other ways to socialize. For K-pop fans, there are a plethora of events by fans for fans that contribute to a unique fan culture. This includes cup sleeve events, random dance plays, and birthday ads. Here’s a breakdown of some of the different fan gatherings K-pop fans organize to promote their faves!
Cupsleeve Events
Perhaps the most well-known kind of K-pop fan gathering, cup sleeve events (sometimes known as birthday cafes) are organized to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and comebacks of idols. Fans collaborate with cafes and boba shops to host these events all over the world. Those who buy drinks or food on the day of the event will receive a free, themed cup sleeve and maybe a few other freebies such as photo cards or stickers. These cup sleeves will usually have the name of the idol or group, the occasion being celebrated (such as birthdays, debut anniversaries, and comebacks), and a picture of the idol or group. All of these are created by talented fan artists, who create the graphics that go on the cup sleeve. The cafes are also decorated with pictures, balloons, streamers, and the like to fit the theme as well. Often, the drinks and/or food are renamed for the day to fit the theme.
Cupsleeve events may even have vendors selling fanmade merchandise in the cafe. They can also host games like a random play dance (more on that later). Although organizers usually don’t make profits from these events, cup sleeves are sometimes funded through donations from other fans. Cupsleeve events also boost sales for the businesses they’re held at and can help support local artists and small businesses.
Birthday cafes are sometimes even attended by K-pop idols themselves. Fans, if they’re lucky, might get a chance to interact with the idols they’re celebrating. Meanwhile, artists are able to meet fans and cherish their fans’ appreciation for them. Artists may visit their cup sleeve events even when abroad, which is much rarer, but still happens! Above all, cupsleeve events are memorable spots for K-pop fans to come together and foster a community with fellow fans in their area.
Random Dance Play
A random dance play (“RDP”) can be held almost anywhere. They’re often staples of K-pop conventions or K-pop concerts, but can also be seen in any public space. During random dance plays, the host will have a curated playlist of song snippets that they blast in random order. Fans gather around an empty space and then run to the center to dance if they know the choreography for a particular song, while those who don’t know the song surround them. RDPs can have different rules depending on the setting and host’s preferences. For example, the one in The Game Caterers 2 x HYBE variety show eliminated contestants if they failed to dance. Normally, random play dances are just a fun way for fans to show off their dance skills and cheer other fans on.
Concert Freebies
Similar to cup sleeve events, freebies are funded by whoever is giving them out, who may collect donations from other fans to cover the cost. As the name suggests, freebies are free gifts that K-pop fans will hand out to other fans for free. These gifts can be anything from bracelets, photocards, candy, photocard decorations, and even albums! Some fans even make freebies exclusively to trade for other peoples’ freebies, though we’re not sure if that makes them “tradies” instead.
This is similar to “Kandi” trading in rave culture, where people make bracelets out of pony beads and trade them with each other. Trading “Kandi” at raves is a way for people to connect and build memories with other ravers. Freebies often hold the same connotations as Kandi. At any given K-pop concert, there are always hoards of fans handing out freebies as per tradition. However, be careful as, if you do hand out freebies, you might get swarmed by fans!
Freebies can also be given at cupsleeves or other fan events. Additionally, K-pop photocard trading has a culture of including freebies with trades and sales, though they aren’t mandatory. Unfortunately, one of the downsides to freebies is that they promote a culture of waste, as freebies are often thrown away. There are solutions to this problem, such as giving more practical freebies like jewelry or top loaders for photocards, something that fans will likely use rather than quickly dispose of. All in all, trading freebies can be an amazing way to gain great memories!
Photocard Trading
Photocard trading can be held both in-person and online. Have you ever been to a concert or fan event and seen people with huge binders? Well, those people are trying to trade and sell photo cards. Other fans can come and flip through the binders and try exchanging one of their own photo cards for one of the ones in the binder. However, if you don’t have photocards on you to trade, you can just ask to buy them! There are whole events dedicated to photocard trading and selling apart from trading at other Kpop events. Furthermore, trading isn’t limited to photocards, but can also include other merchandise or even concert tickets.
Online trading is fairly prominent in K-pop fan spaces. Fans can join Buy/Sell/Trade groups on social media sites like Facebook or look through dedicated hashtags on sites without group features. Photocard trading hashtags usually consist of “#groupnamewtt” (ie., #txtwtt or #wtttxt” for trading TXT merchandise). The same hashtag format is used for want to sell (wts), want to buy (wtb), I’m searching for (iso) and “not for sale” (nfs).
Photocard trading has its own etiquette and rules adopted by fans to prevent scams. It can be intimidating at first, but once you get into it, it becomes very easy! Different people want different things, so simply ask if you’re not sure and you’re golden. Trading is not only fun but also a great way to save money, as you don’t have to buy a million albums for a desired inclusion.
Speaking of photocard trading (and cupsleeves), if you’re ever free it might be a great idea to hit up an event. We hope to see everyone at Pop Tokki’s cupsleeve for ATEEZ Jongho’s birthday in October! The event will have vendors, photocard trading/selling, and more! More details can be found in the graphic below. We look forward to meeting ATINY there!
Fan-Sponsored Ads
We’ve all seen billboard and electronic ads before, but we haven’t all seen ads “advertising” our favorite idols. This is more common in South Korea, but they are slowly making their way into other countries like the U.S. as well. Sometimes, American K-pop fans can find fan ads in Hollywood, Times Square, and other large cities. Fan ads are usually paid for by a specific fan organization and are normally for idols’ birthdays. Some of them can also be there to promote upcoming releases or even just to appreciate an idol for no reason other than their beauty. Ads can be found at transit stations, on vehicles, and on billboards. A few fansites have even sponsored ads on airplanes! Wherever they are, fan-sponsored ads are sure to make any fan excited when they spot them.
Banner Events
Banner events are the most forthcoming fan events for artists themselves on this list. Fanmade banners are specifically made to be seen by the artist and are handed out to audience members at concerts or other live events. These banners will have some sort of message on them, highlighting the connection between artist and fan, and often make a reference to song lyrics. The back of the banners has instructions for the fans, telling them which song they should hold up for the artist to see. Many times, banner events need multiple people to put together, including graphic artists, event coordinators, and people to distribute banners. Banners can also be a cute and touching souvenir for fans to take home and can hold sweet memories for artists as well. Although banner events can sometimes be arranged by management companies, fans can create their own as well, putting a personal spin on the event.
What’s your favorite fan event to attend? Do you want to experience any of these? Let us know on our Twitter and Instagram!
