Have you ever heard a cupsleeve event?

From collecting K-pop merchandise to attending Cupsleeve events, Angela has now started organizing her own Cupsleeve events. This just truly shows how K-pop fans have different ways to show their love and support for their idols. A Cupsleeve event is an event hosted by fans and a way for fans to celebrate the accomplishments or birthdays of their favorite artists in a way that goes beyond online interactions to become real, thrilling events. Angela, a 20-year-old girl from San Pedro Laguna, will share her experience organizing a cupsleeve event to celebrate her bia’s birthday.

Angela became a fan of K-pop during the pandemic in May 2020. Currently, she is stanning Enhypen, which recently held a concert in New Clark City Stadium. Like other fans, they got into K-pop for a reason, and for Angela, being a fan meant more than just admiring the appearance of her idol; she found genuine happiness in their music. “I'm scared of losing Enhypen. I can't imagine my life without them. They just make me so happy in ways I could not explain," she added.

Before organizing her first Cupsleeve event, she already experienced one of these. It was held last year in the Mall of Asia during Manifesto Concert Day 3 (February 5, 2023) at a Jay Cupsleeve event for a member of Enhypen, who was currently having their 3-day concert at that time. She also shared that the cup sleeve kits were free, and she met a lot of her online friends and made new “engene” friends as well.

She explained to us how she initially got interested in planning events, and it’s because of that one tweet she saw that said “looking for collaborations.” She was hesitant at first, but she took it along with the other volunteers—six wonderful girls to be exact—that made her even more dedicated to the newfound experience. The first Cupsleeve event that she organized was held last year on October 15, 2023, entitled Heeromi’s Harmony Land in Laguna. She mentioned that “it was a great experience as I met new people around the area, and along with my co-organizers, we were very happy seeing the faces of our participants having fun with our prepared activities.” Since this was one of her bucket lists, we are not surprised at all.

Heeromi’s Harmony Land in Laguna

Best Day Ever with Jake Rider in Laguna

Planning an event involves more than just creating a wonderful memory and enjoying yourself. She told us about the difficulties she ran into when planning another cup-sleeve celebration for Jake's birthday. “We lacked promotions on Twitter and Facebook; that’s why there were many kits not sold. The attendees from our previous event did not attend Jake's event since they were saving money for Enhypen's rumored announcement of their Fate concert here in the Philippines, which we understand,” she responded. For future organizers out there, don’t get too comfortable with the situation. Angela briefly shares her takeaway from the field, and it’s to not celebrate early as there will always be shortcomings or challenges to face when coordinating an event, which is not avoidable.

Angela’s journey shows how interested and dedicated she is to organizing events for her favorite artists and to K-pop fans who organize or go to Cupsleeve events. It is more than celebrating the milestone of the artist; it is also a way to connect with other fans and enjoy their youth because it doesn't end in their teenage years.