1. Stand back!
To protect your friends and everything else, make sure you have enough room before attempting to sabre.

2. Prepare…
Take off the foil cap and loosen the wire, before tightening it a little again around the cork to make sure it doesn’t get away. Next – and this is a key moment in the ceremony – carefully examine the neck of the bottle and find the join in the glass. Find the place where this join meets the narrowest part of the bottle: that’s the weak spot, and that’s where you’ll aim.

3. Sabre!
Hold the bottle firmly by the bottom in one hand with your thumb well ensconced in the base, cork pointing skywards. Tilt it at a 45-60 degree angle. Finally, pick up your sabre, preferably a short-bladed one, use the blunt edge of the sabre. Practise with the precise strike of the blade against the flange in a wide, open space away from unprotected eyes!

4. Flute sabring
Holding the flute by the stem, place it at 90° to the neck of the bottle prepared in advance, as usual, strike the wire with a firm stroke. Practise in case you break the glass and not the bottle.