My first vending event at a Seventeen Hoshi & Jun Birthday Cupsleeve Event…
FAQ
Q: What is a cupsleeve event?
A: It’s usually a fan gathering for a Kpop group where like-minded folks get to enjoy cupsleeves, photocards, & more at a local boba shop/cafe. Yes, the sleeve for the cup!
Q: Who’s organizing these cupsleeve events?
A: There are a ton of folks organizing them locally on instagram. You can find Kpop groups you want to attend.
This is one I follow for all California events
Q: How do I participate in these events?
A: You can participate as an attendee or a vendor. As an attendee, just show up at the designated times. Usually the host/organizer will have a tiered system of goodies when you attend.
i.e. Base Tier: free cupsleeve with purchase of Boba, 1st Tier: cupsleeve + PC + xyz things related to the event (Donation of X dollars), 2nd Tier: More and More (Donation of X dollars), etc.
Q: How do you participate as a vendor?
A: Usually a few weeks before the event, the host/organizer will do a request for vendors (this doesn’t happen all the time as some organizers vend themselves). There will usually be a google form to fill out. My understanding is that they try to pick vendors who sell different things to bring diversity and variety to their attendees.
Q: Do you have to pay anything as a vendor?
A: Depends on the organizer, usually they are free with a request to donate an item to the overall Raffle prize that they host for all the attendees/donations they receive.
Here’s a guide I found super helpful as a newbie
Below is a documentation of my first experience at a cupsleeve and my first experience vending at a cupsleeve.
Setup occurred at 11am, 1 hr before the event started, since it ran 12pm-6pm. This is the view from my booth after setup. It took me 30-40 mins since I already knew exactly how I wanted my table to be set up.
You can see the hosts/organizers working on the wall decor for the perfect IG shots as I mentally prepared myself for 6 hours of interaction…
Here is one of the walls, complete with all the photos of Hoshi and Jun. This was a birthday event for the two who were born in June.
12pm:
The event started slightly after 12pm as the hosts needed some extra time to get ready but there were people milling about already.
12:30pm:
I made my first sale from a mom who was there just to buy boba and was curious about my Milkis sticker.
1-2pm:
There were many carats milling about and enjoying the event, looking at everything each vendor offered.
2-3pm:
Dead period officially begun and the vendors started visiting each other’s tables to chat and see what each other were selling. We got to know our neighbor vendors and connected via same bias haha
3pm-5pm
Most of the other vendors ate their late lunch while my friends came to visit and we chatted and talked about what we did or were planning to do the rest of our weekend.
I bought a green tea at Mr. Sun for extra pick me up.
5-6pm
The last attendees showed up and I was ready for dinner having eaten lunch at 10:30am. I had to steal a candy from another vendor to keep on going. As I was packing after 6pm, I made a final sale of 2 stickers.
Here is a live video of the event, enjoy!
Special thanks to everyone who came by and visited my booth! Whether you supported me by buying stickers, prints, it was really fun to connect over our shared love of stickers, K-dramas and just cute stuff in general. The hosts and vendors were so kind and I felt very grateful to be invited to be part of this community.
And as always, to all the friends and family who were so supportive by driving far away to come visit and giving me feedback, I see you 🙂
“It surprises me, how a small gesture can feel so very big.”
is greater
