The 98th Academy Awards on Sunday night will be the usual explosion of a champagne-fueled, self-obsessed celebrity glory orgy — that comes, every year, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in free luxury gifts thrown in. This year’s swag bag price tag reached a value of nearly $350,000 for the select 25 Oscar nominees, given free for simply getting out of bed and attending.
Sunday night Academy Awards will be the 24th year some attendees receive an iconic collection of gifts held within aptly named “Everybody Wins” bags.
These include top-notch beauty products and treatments, luxury vacations, alongside innovative wellness products.
Gift-giving company Distinctive Assets delivers it all to the stars in suitcases in lieu of the Academy itself which stopped providing official six-figure gift bags in 2006.
While the gift bag is packed with luxury skincare and associated experiences, the focus has shifted to ultra-private villas that prioritize total seclusion so the elites can meet each other far away from the prying eyes of mere mortals.
One such villa is a $9 million 15,500 square foot mountain-top retreat in Costa Rica. A fully-serviced Arctic escape in a glass-walled luxury villa that allows you to watch the Northern Lights from your bed is also there.
“We’ve got about $200,000 worth of incredible luxury villas around the world, Ibiza, Finland, Sri Lanka”, Distinctive Assets founder Lash Fary told ABC 7 news.
There are also controversial Oscars items in 2026, including a custom prenuptial agreement from attorney James Sexton, and the offer of a body-sculpting experience with Dr. Thomas Su.
Fary says the chosen celebrities can use their platforms to shine a spotlight on small businesses and small brands that can benefit from it.
In 2026 the list of those receiving a bag goes to the top A-listers (Emma Stone, Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Hudson and Michael B. Jordan among them), as well as a few first-time nominees, the Post report notes.
Actors and actresses are dressed by other people, speak words written by other people, while pretending to be other people – all at a spectacular remuneration rate.
Nice work if you can get it.
