Free Stuff

OF COURSE NICK CANNON WANTS SOMEONE ELSE TO PAY FOR HIS BIRTHDAY PARTY

Yesterday Page 6 wrote a big story about how Nick Cannon is looking for corporate sponsors to pay for his 30th birthday bash and fill gift bags. The party will be hosted by his wife Mariah Carey, and lots of high profile guest are “confirmed” such as Jay-Z and Beyonce, Ashton and Demi, Kobe Bryant etc, to whet the sponsors appetites. Of course, Nick and Mariah don’t need the money but they’re only doing what just about ALL the celebrities do – let someone else pay for their parties. Jay-Z and Beyonce don’t need the money either, but they never pay for their own parties. Nick has ALWAYS gotten sponsors for his birthday parties – the difference is HE talks about it and other celebrities have their PR people handle it quietly.

IS SEX & THE CITY’S SARAH JESSICA PARKER THE NEW GIMME GIMME GIRL?

Sarah Jessica Parker must have gone into SHOCK when she woke up this morning to the NY Post headline: “SJP – THE GREEDIEST WOMAN IN SHOWBIZ!” They went on to say “She wants movie millions, freebies, and more of your money!” Besides being paid fifteen million dollars for her recent SATC movie, she stuffed her closet with thousands of dollars worth of clothes, shoes, and jewelry used in the movie. (Not to mention two dozen crystal glasses worth $200 each that were used in a wedding scene.) The paper pointed out that everything used in the film was product placement – for example, Hewlett Packard provided laptops and Sarah will be doing ads for the company.) Parker has launched six fragrances – the recent one timed to the release of the new movie. Her sources of income DO seem limitless. However, we like Jessica and prefer to think of her as a “mogul” rather than a “scrooge” as the Post refers to her.

ENTOURAGE’S REX LEE CONTEMPLATES EMMY FREEBIES

There seems to be a lot of guilt involved in gifting suites nowadays, so the “givers” are sweetening the deal by donating to charities. The London Hotel featured a pre-Emmys gifting suite and celebrities like Rex Lee (who plays the long –suffering Lloyd on “Entourage”) were invited to fill up a designer bag with luxury items to be auctioned off for the charity of his choice. Nice, but we’re guessing those celebs didn’t walk away empty handed.

ANNALYNNE MCCORD IS HAPPY WITH HER HOOVER

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Photo Credit: Splash News

It looks like gifting suites – even at Oscar time – are becoming considerably less frivolous. The Haven gift suite was held in a private Beverly Hills home rather than a fancy hotel, and instead of Chanel or Rolex, they featured Hoover vacuum cleaners! “90210” star AnnaLynne McCord seems perfectly delighted to accept a Hoover and we can’t blame her.

MISS UNIVERSE AND THE GHOST WHISPERER, SIDE BY SIDE!

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Photo Credit: Buzz Foto

Ghost Whisperer Jennifer Love Hewitt and Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza both seem to be flirting outrageously with the camera here. They’re sitting in the front row at the Mara Hoffman fashion show in New York and the girls seem to be guarding their gift bags. There are bag snatchers prowling at these shows just waiting for a distracted person to forget their bag under their chair. Of course, the front row guests get the best bags with full size beauty products and valuable gift certificates. If you go to several shows and have a collection of bags, it becomes difficult to juggle them all.

THE DAYS OF GLUTTONY AND FREEBIES IN HOLLYWOOD ARE COMING TO AN END

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Photo Credit: Splash News

Celebrities are quietly gnashing their teeth in Hollywood because the good life might never be the same: swag suites are closing down! According to the NY Post, those coveted freebies like $5000 watches, flat screen tv’s, and spa vacations, are a thing of the past! Companies don’t have the budgets for gift suites any more – they have better uses for their money. The Golden Globes will have minimal gifting and few top shelf products. Greedy girls like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Mariah Carey, who used to load up their assistants with gift bags are out of luck. Everyone knows most of the loot ends up in the hands of assistants and housekeepers, anyway. Keanu Reeves made a name for himself by REFUSING to visit gift suites at Sundance.

ENTREPRENEURIAL DESIGNER CAPTIVATES BAI LING WITH FREE OFFER

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Photo Credit: Buzz Foto

This could be the start of a trend. An opportunistic fashion designer followed paparazzi in Beverly Hills and when they finished shooting Bai Ling, he pulled out samples of his work in a parking lot and invited her to select a free jacket! He also had jackets intended for Paris Hilton and Benji Madden. Naturally he assumes they’ll be photographed in his designs. Not a bad way to publicize one’s merchandise.