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There’s a lot that goes into throwing a themed party—from the decor to the food to the activities. All of these elements make it feel cohesive. I threw a K-pop-themed birthday party in 2023, and this year I brought it back with the goal of making the festivities bigger and better.
Originally, I thought of making the party a slumber party theme, filled with feather boas, satin PJs, pillows, and a movie playing in the background. The initial idea stemmed from my love of Wicked, or more specifically, Ariana Grande’s costume in “Popular.” However, K-pop ended up returning by popular demand amongst my friends, thus I combined the two into the iconic theme that it is: a K-pop pajama party.
The overall theme may seem random at first, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a lot of crossover in the genre. From the cloudy and light imagery in “Sweet Dreams (feat. Miguel)” by j-hope’s album artwork, the slumber party setting of TWICE’s “What is Love?” music video, to Korean variety shows like “Silence of Idol where artists appear in pajamas, the content is truly endless. I’ll admit there was some confusion on the theme amongst my friends because I made the executive decision to change the theme as I pleased, but the general dress code that I landed on was: K-pop, but if you’re unfamiliar with the genre, PJs are fine. But if there’s a crossover you can find, that’s great!
For my own outfit, ILLIT’s dreamy “Magnetic” music video stood out to me, and so from there, I opted to dress as Wonhee in the performance video of their recent track “NOT CUTE ANYMORE.” This look was surprisingly easy to recreate, with most of the pieces readily available to order stateside. (For my last party, I had to custom-order a few things from Korea, which made things a little more challenging timing-wise.)
The earmuffs are from Shanghai-based brand GRAPE (which, by the way, has so many cute items), the top is the Acne Studios teddy bear print t-shirt, and the shorts are Collina Strada. Wonhee’s actual boots are also Acne Studios, but I opted for shoe covers from Amazon, which were surprisingly comfortable and looked accurate enough to the real thing!
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Once I had my costume down, I started to think of the decor. For my last party, since it was truly just K-pop-themed, I turned the lobby of the venue into an airport with a hand-painted boarding gate sign, and the elevator was transformed into an airplane. This time, with a sleepover theme layered in, I revisited some of my past decorations but softened the look by adding star and moon motifs, giving the entire space a more dreamy, nostalgic feel.
I also set up a crafting table where guests could decorate their own eye sleeping masks. To keep the DIY process easy (and mess-free), I stocked up on sticker gems—no glue required. The adhesive held up surprisingly well, and I loved seeing everyone’s personalities shine through in their designs.
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I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of these, and they were a hit among my guests!
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And of course, no party is complete without food and drinks. Staying true to the K-pop-meets-sleepover theme, I served Korean fried chicken from my favorite spot, bb.q Chicken, alongside pizzas and an assortment of Taco Bell staples. I ordered a few Taco Party Packs and took special requests from friends for Crunchwrap Supremes and Mexican Pizzas—and somehow, everything disappeared before the end of the night.
I also custom-made a visual menu with all of the items and drew inspiration from the graphics used for ILLIT’s “Magnetic” to tie everything together. I stocked up on sodas, water, soju (to be on theme of course), champagne, beer, and my favorite vodka seltzer, -196
. I had -196 for the first time last year at Head in the Clouds and love the variety of flavors they come in: Strawberry, Grapefruit, Peach, and Lemon. The Zero Sugar Lemon flavor ended up being a crowd favorite.
Another element I was especially intentional about this time around was the photo activation—or “portrait studio,” as I called it. After endlessly scrolling on Pinterest and skimming through so many K-Pop music videos, I decided I wanted a drapey satin backdrop with a centerpiece that was inspired by the music video for “NOT CUTE ANYMORE” to mirror my outfit. My very talented sister, Katie, made the headstone out of cardboard in two days, and it turned out looking better than I could have imagined. For the drapery, she and our friend, Caroline, went to Remainders in Pasadena, where they found the perfect fabrics to tie everything together.
Caroline also hand-made pillows to pull the whole space together—one featuring my name, along with heart and star designs we sprinkled throughout the venue. She dressed up as aespa’s NingNing from her SHUSHU/TONG x Haus Nowhere collaboration, with an entirely handmade costume!
I made some fake waiting room signs inspired by the ones used on Music Core in Korea and stuck them on the bathrooms as fun decor too, in an effort to not miss any details.
From planning to execution, it was such a joy to see everyone come together for my birthday and execute the insanely creative costumes—and I can’t wait to start dreaming up the next one.
See the full party recap below.
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Kristine Kwak
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