Happy Pepero Day

Today is Pepero day~! :)

Pepero day is celebrated on November 11th in South Korea. It is not a big holiday, it's just a day when people give each other a special Korean snack called Pepero.

Pepero is the name of these yummy cookie sticks dipped in chocolate. The original pepero box is red and it is just chocolate-flavored, but there are several other flavors as well: almond, strawberry, white cookie, melon etc.

 

It's kind of funny that Korea has this whole day dedicated to one type of snack. It's like if back in Europe we had Kinder surprise day and we would all buy and give each other Kinder surprise eggs on that day... which would be really cool actually :D Well the point is, you buy a box of pepero for a friend or a boyfriend/girlfriend or anyone you care about. It's definitely a nice gesture and it really makes your day when you receive pepero boxes from people ^^ And it's really affordable too. A regular box of pepero costs 1200krw (around 1$) but around Pepero day you can get special prices too, like 1+1 or something. I just bought a box of strawberry pepero for 960krw at Lotte mart.

The back of pepero box looks like a postcard. You can write the name and the address of the person sending and the person receiving the box, and there's even a place for a stamp, so you could just send this without wrapping it or anything. But it's better to give it in person, I think. There's a place for a short message too :)

The date of Pepero day is November 11th and it's probably because the numbers 11.11 look like four long sticks that resemble pepero. There are different stories on the internet about how this holiday started. One of them says that two female students gave each other pepero in the wish of becoming tall and slim. Of course, this might not be true, but it's a nice story anyway. Wikipedia even says that if you wish to become tall and slim you have to eat pepero on 11.11 at 11:11 in 11 seconds. Lol I've never heard of that before, but it sounds like a fun thing to do. Of course, I assume they mean just one stick, because it would be impossible to eat the whole box in 11 seconds.

Korean Pepero sticks are really similar to the famous Japanese snack called Pocky. I belive Pocky was created first, years before Pepero. But Pepero day first started in Korea, sometime in the 1990s. Later on, when Japan saw how much money can be made with a day like that, Japan also started celebrating Pocky day. At least that's what the internet says, I am no expert. But I did live in Japan for a year and I don't remember Pocky being a huge day there. I might be wrong, but I don't remember receiving any Pocky on November 11th. Here in Korea I always get a least a box or two every year.

And even if you don't celebrate the day, the stores will remind you of it. You know how on Valentine's day for example, all the stores offer roses and hearts and chocolates and all this red/pink cute stuff to buy for your loved ones. Well, it's similar on Pepero day. Anywhere you go, there are tons of Pepero things to chose from. Not just regular boxes of pepero, but several "special editions" like extra huge pepero sticks or I don't know... Even stores that have nothing to do with Chocolate will sometimes have special Pepero day offers.

For example my favorite cosmetics shop in Korea called Etude House. Today they have a special 1+1 Pepero Day offer, where you can buy any two products and get the cheaper one of these two for free - not bad :)

 

 

My boyfriend and I decided not to spend money on Pepero, but I couldn't help but buy him at least one box ^^ It's not that expensive anyway.

I don't know if Pepero is sold where you live. Or maybe there's Pocky? I hear Pocky is sold in some of the European countries under the name of Mikado. Well, if you can't find any of these, then how about buying one of your favorite sweets, like Kinder surprise egg (lol I just LOVE them) or Milka or something and share it with your loved ones? ^^

Have a happy Pepero day ^^