--- description: Bei Bei, the National Zoo's youngest giant panda cub, celebrated his first birthday on Saturday with a giant frozen cake—as all pandas do title: Watch Panda Cub Bei Bei Celebrate His First Birthday with Cake image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf57d802a541d7586/6988a313e20a87279da92187/bei-bei-birthday-cake.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Panda Cub Bei Bei Celebrate His First Birthday with Cake  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 20, 2016 5:56 PM CUT  Smithsonian's youngest giant panda cub Bei Bei makes his public debut following his birth last August at the National Zoo in Washington on January 16, 2016. Smithsonian's youngest giant panda cub Bei Bei makes his public debut following his birth last August at the National Zoo in Washington on January 16, 2016.Olivier Douliery—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 20, 2016 5:56 PM CUT Bei Bei, the [National Zoo’s youngest giant panda cub](http://time.com/4050272/panda-bei-bei-name/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined"), celebrated his first birthday on Saturday with a giant frozen cake—as all pandas do. The colorful cake—made of frozen apple, carrot and beet juice by the zoo’s nutrition department—took two weeks to create and weighs about 150 pounds. It was adorned with a giant number one. Bei Bei will officially turn 1 on Monday. Saturday’s birthday celebration also included Bei Bei’s older sister, Bao Bao, who turns 3 on Tuesday, and Tian Tian, the cubs’ father, who turns 19 on Aug. 27, [the Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/happy-birthday-celebration-planned-for-giant-baby-panda-at-national-zoo/2016/08/19/c6406dc8-661a-11e6-be4e-23fc4d4d12b4%5Fstory.html "undefined"). Early into the zoo’s [Facebook Live broadcast](https://www.facebook.com/nationalzoo/ "undefined") on Saturday, Bei Bei had yet to approach his birthday cake, though his mother, Mei Xiang, was enjoying the frozen treat. To see what the rest of the pandas are up to, check out the [giant panda cam](https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/webcams/giant-panda.cfm "undefined") livestream. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4460317/bei-bei-panda-first-birthday-cake/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4460317/bei-bei-panda-first-birthday-cake/"},"headline":"Watch Panda Cub Bei Bei Celebrate His First Birthday with Cake","datePublished":"2016-08-20T17:56:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:06:20.534Z","description":"The colorful treat was made of frozen fruit juice","url":"https://time.com/4460317/bei-bei-panda-first-birthday-cake/","keywords":["animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf57d802a541d7586/6988a313e20a87279da92187/bei-bei-birthday-cake.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf57d802a541d7586/6988a313e20a87279da92187/bei-bei-birthday-cake.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"USA-CHINA-ANIMAL-PANDA-ZOO-TOURISM","caption":"USA-CHINA-ANIMAL-PANDA-ZOO-TOURISM","creditText":"Olivier Douliery—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4460317/bei-bei-panda-first-birthday-cake/","name":"Watch Panda Cub Bei Bei Celebrate His First Birthday with Cake"}}]}] ```