Have you ever … organized a cupsleeve event?

On April 14th, HallyuEvents held another cupsleeve event at NaiCha Bubbletea Store in Munich.
The Duo (Kai and Laura) organized the event for the birthdays of Yunho and Seonghwa from Ateez.
Although many people come to such events, few know what the organisation is all about.

First of all, what is a cupsleeve? Basically, cupsleeves go around cups of, for example, hot coffee to keep your hands from burning. In K-Pop fandoms, specifically designed cupsleeves are not used like this however.
They are made from a way thinner material than the original and are mostly used just to look cool.

Now, is there much to do and organize an event like this? When do you start and how much money does it cost to have such events planned?
While talking to Laura and Kai about their events, they gave insights to their designs and planning.

The two students started their journey when they met at the K-Pop Flex Festival in 2022.

After some time where they filmed K-Pop dance covers and went to events together, they decided to found HallyuEvents in September 2023. The idea came on a train ride to Berlin for a (G)-Idle concert.

Their mission was to bring K-Pop fans together, despite their age, identity, fandom or anything else.

Since the first event, they gained lots of fans and are working hard on building their community in Southern Bavaria (Munich).

As everyone can see on their insta page (🔗@hallyuevents.de) they post their schedule around six months in advance so that fans can plan and other event organizers (for cupsleeves, random play dances or else) can plan around their schedule.

This helps to prevent events happening at the same day which is always a struggle for fans of both events.

Through their insta page, they promote each event seperately as well. They make posts with the type of merch and the prices next to the schedule and general information about the events (date, time, place etc.). In addition to that, they make physical flyers to hand out at local K-Pop and music stores.

The duo has a timeline schedule for their organization (see below) to make sure everything works out smoothly.

A little tip from HallyuEvents: „Don’t underestimate shipping times and plan some extra buffer days for safety.“

4 weeks: Cupsleeve designs ready and order (from China)
4 weeks: Start advertisement
2 – 3 weeks: Design photocards and postcards
2 weeks: Think about setup/decorations

Besides the location at NaiCha Bubbletea, Kai and Laura plan their events alone. They have Nathalie (🔗@jaelly.events) who designs their cupsleeves.

At the events, friends help with the decoration, taking pictures or keeping an eye on everything (especially the money😉).

For the future, HallyuEvents wants to expend their team. They are currently working on ways to onboard new members.

With more members, it’s way less stressful and costly for the two organisators.

Speaking about money, what would you think such an event cost? 20 Euro? 50 Euro? Maybe 100 Euro?

According to Laura and Kai, their events cost around 200 to 600 Euro, depending on the type of merch and the group they have planned.

For one of their last events (Seventeen b-day) they ordered 13 different photocard designs.

Right now, the two are paying for everything months in advance from their own money.

Until the two find sponsors, the fans coming to the events, have to pay a small amount of money for the merch.

This helps the duo to reach a break-even in the end.

For anyone wondering, the prices are calculated for each event separately depending on the amount the two spend on the merch.

Hopefully, in the future, the two will be able to surprise their fans with more expensive gifts thanks to sponsors.

Another thing, they want to surprise their fans with, is the future. They have many ideas for new events and new types of events.
If anyone would like to see them organize certain events or have ideas for future projects, the two would love to receive Insta DMs and feedback.

When planning such big events, there are always parts that the organizers like and some that they dislike. For Laura and Kai, the best part is the day itself.

„Seeing so many happy fans having fun and vibing together […] is just an amazing feeling“, Kai states. Laura agrees with his point, saying that it feels unreal how many people are coming to their events.

What stresses both the most about their events is the evening before. Making sure to have packed everything and hoping for the event to work out so that they are not left with merch and debt in the end is always the most annoying part.

Still, „[…] in the end it‘s all worth it and we have a lot of fun every time“, Laura ends.

On the day of the events, the NaiCha Bubbletea Store changes a lot from their normal looks.
When you enter, the big TV across the room shows a playlist created by Kai and Laura specifically for the event, most of the time containing songs/music videos of the group or solo artist the event is about.
For the Yunho and Seonghwa event, they have a playlist of many Ateez songs as that is the group the two idols belong to.

After buying the drinks, you go past all the seats of the restaurant Anzi Kitchen, that is linked to NaiCha, and already spot the fans and atmosphere.
Laura and Kai prepared posters on the walls, photocards and albums to make the atmosphere look great. They have a small table in the last corner where their merch is laying.
People can go there to buy the cupsleeve and photocards and take part in the special gumballl machine raffle where you can get prizes sponsored by blackbirdscraft and sabii_pins.
Many people come to the events for the merch and for the chance to trade and buy photocards. In K-Pop, each album you buy comes with pictures of one member or group pictures (so-called photocards).

Fans go and trade the photocards they got for others of members they want to have. Some even buy photocards from other fans. Laura and Kai give the fans a space to do that during their events.
Most of the displayed decorations Laura and Kai either own or get from friends. What they don‘t have yet, the two buy and reuse at 1Euro Shops or other DIY stores.
They try to save money and reduce waste by reusing the products as often as possible even if that means taking way longer for the preparation and making sure to take them off very carefully at the end of the events.
After that long, exhausting day, Laura and Kai are happy to make their fans enjoy themselves and are already looking forward to the next event to spend time with their friends and everyone that enjoys what they do.

„We wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who supports us and has attended or will attend our events in the future. Also a big shoutout to our friends who help us behind the scenes. We are excited to see what the future holds and we are very motivated to keep working on the upcoming events.“

„Stay tuned for all of our future announcements, something big (any by that we mean like really BIG) is coming ;D“

What could they mean by that? Do you have any ideas?