--- title: Panda Yuan Zai First Birthday at Taipei Zoo description: Panda Yuan Zai celebrates Yuan Zaifirst birthday at Taipei City Zoo with cake. canonical: https://time.com/2962981/this-panda-had-the-best-first-birthday-party-ever/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-07T16:36:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:34.290Z og:title: This Panda Had The Best First Birthday Party Ever og:description: That cake looks pretty good og:url: https://time.com/2962981/this-panda-had-the-best-first-birthday-party-ever/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Panda Had The Best First Birthday Party Ever twitter:description: That cake looks pretty good twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Panda Had The Best First Birthday Party Ever  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jul 7, 2014 4:36 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jul 7, 2014 4:36 PM UTC This [NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asia/giant-panda-taipei-zoo-celebrates-first-birthday-n149051) video shows the first Taiwan-born giant panda cub Yuan Zai celebrating her first birthday at the Taipei Zoo on July 6 . [ITN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nIwNQmh8OE) video reports the pink cake was made out of fruits and vegetables – bamboo, apples, carrots, and pineapples. The zoo also set up a way for her to [draw lots](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/draw+lots) via bamboo tubes, a tradition in which objects are placed in front of a baby, and the one he or she chooses is supposed to determine his or her calling in life. The panda picked up the “painter” card, AFP [reports](http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-celebrate-birthday-first-taiwan-born-panda-cub-064914270.html). Photos from the event also show that, in a typical parent move, her mother Yuan Yuan (left) helped her eat the cake–you know, in case it became too overwhelming:  Mandy Cheng/AFP - Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2962981/this-panda-had-the-best-first-birthday-party-ever/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2962981/this-panda-had-the-best-first-birthday-party-ever/"},"headline":"This Panda Had The Best First Birthday Party Ever","datePublished":"2014-07-07T16:36:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:34.290Z","description":"That cake looks pretty good","url":"https://time.com/2962981/this-panda-had-the-best-first-birthday-party-ever/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2962981/this-panda-had-the-best-first-birthday-party-ever/","name":"This Panda Had The Best First Birthday Party Ever"}}]}] ```