Hello Kitty Con: What was in those swag bags anyway?

Gift bag, goodie bag, swag bag. Call it what you will – they have become an integral part of the cultural landscape in Southern California. It’s hard to imagine a large event without a take-home bag, whether it’s the Carousel of Hope ball or the Oscars, although at the latter only the award nominees are fortunate enough to bring home bags that, this year, were worth more than $80,000.

Which brings us to the recent Hello Kitty Con. The four-day convention at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, which concluded on Sunday, was the first ever … the first Hello Kitty Convention, that is. The VIP preview/media Hello Kitty event, was held Oct. 29 and those who came out to celebrate did not leave empty-handed. About 2,000 attendees took home 40th anniversary bags filled with an avalanche of stuff, including:

• A Hello Kitty: the Red Bow Beauty Diaries box (with several items including lip glosses, eye shadow sticks, eyeliners, lip balm and a coin purse).

• A set of two packaged notebooks

• A coffee mug, anniversary folder, tissue package and Band-aids

• A Target Bullseye stuffed dog dressed as….. Hello Kitty

• Several pins, decals and a Badtz Maru Pez dispenser.

Granted, there were no vacation vouchers or spa treatment certificates or hand-crafted bangles (part of the swag for Oscar nominees) but it wasn’t a bad haul for fans of the mouthless icon (recently revealed by Times culture blogger Carolina Miranda to not even be a cat).

So, understanding that this merchandise is highly collectible, what exactly were the bags worth? For starters, Sephora sells a Red Bow Beauty Diaries box for $49, and Target sells Bullseye plush dogs for prices ranging from about $8.99 to $94.99 (for a life-size verison). But perhaps value can be better judged on the open market; someone recently posted an offering on craigslist for a swag bag and a T-shirt. The asking price ? $200. So perhaps the value of the Hello Kitty Con swag bag is in the eye of the beholder and for some folks, that means priceless.