‘Everyone's a winner’ may be a cliched line in competitive sports, but in the world of creative arts, it may hold true. Every year, even as one person wins an Oscar, others also go home with a lot, from acclaim to exposure. Over the last two decades, that has also included a prized gift bag. For the last 24 years, nominees in major Academy Award categories have received a gift bag curated by a US-based company. And every year, it gets bigger, grander, and more lavish. This year, it contains about $350,000 worth of luxury products.
Nominees in the acting and direction categories of the Oscars receive a lavish gift bag of luxury items. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni (REUTERS)
Here's a sneak peek inside what the marketers are calling the ‘Everybody Wins’ gift bag that Oscar nominees will take home.
Who curates the Oscars gift bag?
Distinctive Assets, a US-based firm, has curated these gift bags for the nominees in the top acting and directing categories at the Oscars for 24 years. Marketer Lash Fary assembles these ‘unofficial’ gift bags independently of the Academy. But over time, they have come to be associated with the awards, almost becoming a tradition.
In conversation with Reuters, Fary says his goal is simple: make nominees feel celebrated, while giving small and emerging brands a global spotlight. “This is something we do independently of the Academy with the intention of elevating small businesses, female-founded brands, and minority-owned companies, and also because losing sucks,” he explains.
Lash Fary, founder of Distinctive Assets, shows items included in the "Everyone Wins" nominee gift bag in Los Angeles. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh (REUTERS)
What's inside the ‘Everyone Wins’ gift bag for 2026 Oscars
The gift bag this year is a small suitcase. It contains a variety of products, ranging from a hydrating sipper to skin products and footwear. Companies whose products are included in the bag pay a fee to Distinctive Assets to be there.
Danuta Mieloch, founder of Rescue Spa, which has contributed $450 worth of treatments and goods this year per bag, told Reuters that the exposure is worth the investment. “I think this is one of the most exciting moments. Coming from Poland 30-something years ago and now being at the Oscars — it means a lot,” she said.
The "Everyone Wins" nominee gift bag is a suitcase, which includes vacation packages. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh (REUTERS)
AFP reported that the bag also contains treatments from Rescue Spa, inexpensive snacks, and even a home interior design package. The most expensive of these packages includes a full home rebuild costing upwards of $100,000. Then, there are fully paid vacations from snow-covered villas in Finland to the beaches of Costa Rica and Hollywood's favourite party town - Ibiza.
The 98th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will take place on March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well.
A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism.
Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day.
Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More
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