This year’s swag bags for Oscar nominees are valued over $200,000, with dozens of gifts ranging from liposuction vouchers to international resort stays — and in the wake of the historic Los Angeles wildfires, some of the freebies may help victims with repairing or rebuilding their properties or family members’ homes.
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The “Everybody Wins” gift bags are given to all nominees in the top-billed categories of the Academy Awards, such as Best Actor and Best Director. Distinctive Assets, an L.A. marketing company that puts together the promotion independently of the Motion Picture Academy, has included over 60 items totaling nearly $220,000 in value, according to CNBC.
Many of the gifts are luxury items that one would expect to appeal to Hollywood celebrities: a $240 cutting board, a premium tea gift box, a $1,570 pocket square, a year’s supply of breathable makeup foundation, a personalized backgammon set, cannabis products, an eco-friendly face towel, vegan leather passport wallets, a luxury lip care set, skincare products, etc.
These physical freebies do count as taxable income for the Oscar nominees, and there are even more expensive memberships and experiences that will not be taxable unless they sell or redeem them. One gift is an AncestryDNA personalized genealogy report valued at $25,000. Other offers include $25,000 in liposuction treatments, a $23,000 trip to a resort in the Maldives, and a $5,200 stay at a five-star hotel in Barcelona.
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But several gifts this year stand out for their relevance to the fires that ravaged Los Angeles in January. “This year, on the heels of the historically tragic L.A. fires, we have found even more ways that our celebrity swag can do good in our community,” Lash Fary, the founder of Distinctive Assets, said in a statement.
On the smaller end, a custom t-shirt reading “L.A. Strong” can be found in the goodie bags. On the larger end, there are services from disaster recovery consultants and a local construction company. CNBC writes:
In the aftermath of the destructive Los Angeles fires, this year’s bag also includes a one-year membership to Bright Harbor personalized disaster recovery support, as well as 10 memberships to give to friends and family. There is also $50,000 worth of project management services from LA-based Maison Construction.
″[Maison Construction is] making their gift completely transferable,” Fary says. “The nominees can give it to a friend or family member or neighbor, whoever might need it.”
Bright Harbor members will receive “a custom recovery plan and a dedicated specialist to navigate insurance, FEMA, SBA loans, mitigation, finding vendors, and anything else you need to rebuild,” the company’s website states.
According to Distinctive Assets, these are the recipients for the “Everybody Wins” bags this year: Adrien Brody, Colman Domingo, Timothée Chalamet, Ralph Fiennes, Sebastian Stan, Cynthia Erivo, Karla Sofía Gascón, Mikey Madison, Demi Moore, Fernanda Torres, Kieran Culkin, Yura Borisov, Edward Norton, Guy Pearce, Jeremy Strong, Monica Barbaro, Ariana Grande, Felicity Jones, Isabella Rossellini, Zoe Saldaña, Sean Baker (director: Anora), Brady Corbet (director: The Brutalist), James Mangold (director: A Complete Unknown), Jacques Audiard (director: Emilia Pérez), Coralie Fargeat (director: The Substance), and Conan O’Brien (the host of the awards show).
