As if the glitz and glam that come with attending the 96th Academy Awards wasn’t enough, we’ve just been given a sneak peak of this year’s gift bag that will be given to all the nominees. And when we say gift “bag”, what we actually mean is gift “truck”.
The Oscars is known for some pretty massive and extra moments, like the Moonlight/La La Land Best Picture mix up, or Will Smith‘s infamous slapping of Chris Rock. That motif of extravagance and gargantuan scale is maintained by every element of the Oscars, even the gift bags.
Last year the Oscars’ gift bag made headlines because it included a *checks notes* square metre of rural Queensland that every nominee walked home the owner of. What better way to congratulate Paul Mescal on his performance in Aftersun than with a portion of Bob Katter‘s backyard.
At the moment it was slammed as a weird symbol of the Academy being out of touch, especially given the issue of Indigenous Australian land rights.
This year instead of any pieces of Aussie land, Oscar nominees will walk away with a haul of 61 different items total — so slightly bigger than your average goodie bag.
Okay, maybe a little bigger, given that the total price tallies up to a whopping USD $178K… per bag.
What’s in the 2024 Oscar’s goodie bag?
The gift bag this year includes an array of items with varying value, the cheapest 29 of which all cost under $100. Some of those “cheaper” items include treats such as Windy City Sweets black licorice, Posh Pretzels handcrafted chocolate-covered pretzels, and a 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition Rubik’s Cube.
There are some other items however, that significantly raise the total value of the goodie bags.
The main ticket item that everyone is losing it over is the three-night paid stay at five-star Chalet Zermatt Peak in Switzerland, which comes in at a ‘yuge USD $50,000.
Another three night trip in a luxury villa at Saint-Barth Paradise is included too. And if three days isn’t your thing, then there’s a seven day all-expenses at the Golden Door wellness retreat in California. Safe to say, holidays are sorted once you’re an Oscar nominee.
Some other big buckaroo items include:
- a 45-bottle wine fridge from THOR Kitchen — USD $1,800.
- a Schwank portable grill — USD $1,250.
- a Cynosure micro-needling session — USD $10,000.
- a private magic show by Carl Christman — USD $25,000.
The entire full list of items can be viewed here.
Who gets an Oscars goodie bag?
The high value hauls of loot are not given to just anyone who enters the Academy Awards building, and not even all the nominees receive them.
The bags are only given to the top individual nominees for acting and directing categories, which means this year the following individuals will receive the ludicrous gift packsages:
- Bradley Cooper – Best Actor
- Colman Domingo – Best Actor
- Paul Giamatti – Best Actor
- Cillian Murphy – Best Actor
- Jeffrey Wright – Best Actor
- Annette Bening – Best Actress
- Lily Gladstone – Best Actress
- Sandra Huller – Best Actress
- Carey Mulligan – Best Actress
- Emma Stone – Best Actress
- Emily Blunt – Best Supporting Actress
- Danielle Brooks – Best Supporting Actress
- America Ferrera – Best Supporting Actress
- Jodie Foster – Best Supporting Actress
- Da’Vine Joy Randolph – Best Supporting Actress
- Sterling K. Brown – Best Supporting Actor
- Robert De Niro – Best Supporting Actor
- Robert Downey Jr – Best Supporting Actor
- Ryan Gosling – Best Supporting Actor
- Mark Ruffalo – Best Supporting Actor
- Justine Triet – Best Director
- Martin Scorsese – Best Director
- Christopher Nolan – Best Director
- Yorgos Lanthimos – Best Director
- Jonathan Glazer – Best Director
As revealed by Lash Fary, the CEO of the company that arranges and sends the gift packages, the Oscars goodies bags are not actually an Oscars sanctioned event.
“We call it ‘Everyone Wins’ and we do this independently of the Academy, which means I get to decide who gets it and it’s only the top acting and directing nominees,” said Fary.
Companies bid to have their products included in the gift bags, in the hope that being associated with a famous face will be good for their company, and it will therefore sell better.
Because dropping $50K on holiday that Emma Stone went on is totally what the average person can afford to do.
The Oscar winners will be announced on Monday March 11.
