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USA Today
March 16, 2003

At the Oscars, strutting $20,000 worth of stuff
By Kelly Carter, USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES — How big have award-show gift baskets gotten? So big that celebrities practically need a forklift to carry them to their limos.

The load might be a little lighter at Sunday's Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has requested that companies chosen for this year's goodie basket give gift certificates, according to one contributor.

The 125 presenters and performers receiving gift bags — including Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Dustin Hoffman, Halle Berry, Cameron Diaz, Ben Affleck, Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas, Jim Carrey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Garner— will take home more than $20,000 in free loot.

• Two-night stay at a Fairmont Hotel & Resort with spa treatments and a home spa basket, $1,500
• Dinner party for 10 in the Private Boardroom of any of the 65 Morton's steakhouses and a set of six steak knives, $1,500
• A pair of Beamer BM80 Phone Video Stations, $499
• Cargo cosmetics, $600
• Delphi XM SKYFi portable satellite radio, $229, and one-year subscription to XM Satellite Radio's 100 channels, $120
• Gift certificate for SkyMeals, which delivers home-cooked meals to airline travelers, $150
• Givere chocolate truffles presented in a limited Waterford crystal vase, $350
• 1 lb. Godiva Gold Ballotin, $38
• Kiehl's body care products, $200
• Själ skin care line, $230
• Bi-coastal membership to The Sports Club/LA, $4,000
• World According to Jess handbag, $190
• An Oliveri Fashion custom shirt, $100-$300
• Gaiam's "Organic Night's Sleep," including organic sateen sheets, natural cotton sleep mask, two sleep CDs, blanket and Zen digital alarm clock, $475
• Amy Reiley's Pocket Vineyard and Pocket Gourmet, software for Palm Pilot and pocket PCs, $50
• Sonya Dakar Skin Clinic gift certificate, $500, and drying potion, $28
• Timmy Woods of Beverly Hills handbag, $300-$1,500
• Swoon candle and custom matchbox, $34
• Sebastian International Shaper hair products, $50
• Sesna sunglasses by KATA Eyewear, $350
• Jay Strongwater jewel-encrusted mirror compact, hand-enameled and adorned with Swarovski crystals, $275-$325
• Danier Leather turquoise leather bistro flask with two shot glasses, $28
• Invitation for two to the international gala premiere of Zumanity, a Cirque du Soleil show at New York-New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Sept. 20 and a two-night stay at the hotel, priceless (no tickets are being sold to this event)
• Custom facial at Kinara Spa in West Hollywood, $120

Copyright © 2003 • USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.