LOS ANGELES — The Hollywood elite will meet this weekend for the 95th Annual Academy Awards. Celebrities will be walking the red carpet in stunning formalwear and many will be swaddled in freebies with the legendary "swag bag."
Distinctive Assets, a Los Angeles-based marketing company, is credited with transforming celebrity gifting into a pop culture phenomenon, and is once again producing their "Everyone Wins" Nominee Gift Bags.
Some of the items and experiences waiting within each bag are worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars - like a vacation at The Lifestyle, a 10-acre Canadian retreat.
What may surprise some armchair entertainment insiders is the relative affordability of many of the items waiting inside those gift bags.
Among the goodies listed by the company for this year's gift bags include samples of Opopop, a gourmet microwave popcorn. There are also bottles of S.Pellegrino and Harmless Harvest coconut water, each of which are widely available at grocery stores nationwide.
One of the cheapest options are bottles of Frontera Wines, some varieties of which can be found at $7-$15 per full-size bottle.
There are also eco-friendly and socially-conscious items including sustainably-harvested honey and a travel pillow created by PETA that creates awareness of monkey importation for laboratory testing. Land plots supporting Australian conservation efforts are also included.
Smaller but trendy businesses are included in this year's swag bags, including Oklahoma-based Good Girl Chocolate and Summer Street Shea vegan body butters.
As may be expected, a great number of items in the gift bags involve pampering and self-care, from skincare collections from Miage and ēcōMD, to facial rejuvenation procedures from Dr. Konstantin Vasyukevich, and Oxygenetix foundation and microneedling medispa services.
All told, each individual gift bag's cost will be in the six-figure range. It's a hamper that will sure to pamper, delight, surprise and inspire… regardless of whether or not the nominees take home that iconic gold statue.
Selections from the 2023 Oscars swag bag
