Party with Karina Smirnoff at the Catalina

By Maddy Marr12/28/2012

Karina Smirnoff has two reasons to get festive on New Year’s Eve: The start of 2013 on Tuesday, with a blowout Studio 54 themed party at the Catalina Hotel, then the next day it’s her 35th birthday. Not as ideal as it sounds to be born near a holiday.

“When I was younger my friends and I would celebrate the night of Dec. 31 and then finish by the morning of the 3rd,” she says from Los Angeles. “But now sometimes people are too overpartied. They’re like, ‘Oh, it’s too close to New Year’s Eve. We need to do something chill. We’re still recovering!’ ” The Dancing with the Stars pro also gets occasionally cheated out of good gifts.

“What’s this combined-present thing?” she says, laughing. “You can’t go that route with me. I can understand the thought process, but you need to go all out. Don’t double it. Triple it!” As fantastic as Smirnoff looks, she also isn’t crazy about aging: “A lot of people say, ‘Oh this is so exciting.’ No! It was exciting turning 25. Counting how many years you’ve been alive? I don’t like that at all.”

Info: CatalinaHotel.com/NYE2013, 305-674-1160.