A year before: Riikka decides to organise a huge party for her 30th birthday.
“I love organising parties. It’s been a while since I last did anything like this.”
Six months before: Riikka and Anne decide to combine their parties.
“The decision was made while sitting in the midsummer night sauna.”
Two months before: The premises are reserved.
“We wanted a place where we could serve our own food and drinks”. The invitations are sent out.
Six weeks before: The hairstylist and make-up appointments are reserved.
“As long as you yourself look beautiful, advised a friend. That knocked off some pressure from the party preparations.”
A month before: A frock is bought, and the sparkling wine is fetched from Tallinn in Estonia.
“Nothing should be left until the last minute, so that the haste will not spoil the fun.”
A day before: The pies are baked, and the servings are organised. “For the day of the festivities one has to leave time for a quiet moment.”
The day of the celebration: The premises are decorated and you tune up for the party.
“I choose to ignore things that I cannot do anything about at that point. Worrying about something like that would just spoil the atmosphere. When raising a toast with the guests I just use ginger ale to avoid getting too wasted.”
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 23.11.2009
