People bustle about the red carpet outside the Kodak Theatre as preparations continue for the 84th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012.
Even those actors who don’t receive a little gold man at tonight’s Oscars won’t be going home empty-handed. The swag bags that each Academy Award nominee receives will almost certainly dull any lingering disappointment, to the tune of $62,023. This year’s goodie bags contain swag of all purposes and prices, from bath products and cosmetics worth hundreds to vacation getaways worth tens of thousands.
(GALLERY: The 8 Most Opulent Gifts in the Swag Bag)
The 39 items have been carefully curated to be seen in the hands of the biggest Hollywood stars. Lash Fary, the founder of Los Angeles-based marketing company Distinctive Assets, is celebrating a decade of curating the Oscars swag bags. And he’s had his hand in the Grammys’ gift bags for 13 years now. So he’s something of an expert at curating the celebs’ consolation prizes. “These people don’t make decisions based on a price tag,” Fary tells NewsFeed, so he views it as an opportunity to “help them shop for things that they might not normally buy.”
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Sure, celebrities might not typically buy these items, but normal Americans simply can’t afford many of them. After all, you’d have no idea we were in the midst of a recession. This year’s bags are worth more than $60,000. But that’s a drastic decrease from last year’s Oscars, where the swag given away to each nominee was valued at more than $75,000. The reason for this year’s decline? Fewer vacations, Fary says. “Last year there were four major trips, each valued at over $10,000. This year, there are only two.” Half the number of tropical getaways this year. And we probably won’t even have a single one. But then again, we don’t have an Oscar nomination either.
While most of the items are beauty products, there are certain items that are overly opulent, even for an A-list celebrity. Here are eight of the most extravagant items the also-rans will receive after the Oscars statuettes are handed out.
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