While some may find their stockings filled with $1 trinkets this holiday season, the wealthy are opting for more extravagant and unique gifts that come with hefty price tags.

For most, the holiday spirit involves either fulfilling wish lists or budgeting carefully to make ends meet, but for America’s elite, the mantra “it’s the thought that counts” doesn’t quite apply.

Instead, the wealthy are enlisting their own version of Santa’s elves to craft gifts that could easily surpass the holiday budgets of many families.

Among the more unconventional and expensive gifts that affluent husbands are choosing for their spouses is the addition of an extra person to their marriage—but not in the way you might think.

Quiet Lux provides exclusive memberships to a high-end private concierge service, effectively acting as a personal assistant to cater to every need.

So while women deal with running a home, looking after children and having a career, their husbands are helping ease the physical and mental load, not by pulling the weight themselves, but by paying someone else to help.

And for the women who already have it all then gifting themselves a new look is proving popular this festive season. 

A firm offering an array of hair extensions made with ‘100 percent raw human hair’ costing up to $50,000 is seeing a surge in customers wanting a new look for the holidays. 

The Daily Mail takes a look at four of the gifts the rich are splashing out on to go under their tree this year

The rich are splashing out on extravagant gifts this year that include gold leaf-coated earbuds for children and celebrity-loved skincare. A stock image of a family at Christmas  

1) Pricey personal assistants

Nothing says ‘I love you’ and ‘Merry Christmas’ quite like a $7,500 concierge service. 

And many minted husbands with ‘very little spare mental bandwidth’ are buying exactly that for their burnt-out wives this holiday season, according to Quiet Lux CEO Lizzy Livne who founded the company in 2024. 

‘When I speak with men about why it resonates, a common theme comes up: Many of the points of tension at home are not about big issues, but about logistics. Things that fall through the cracks, mental load, and the unspoken expectation that someone is quietly keeping everything running,’ she told the Daily Mail. 

‘In many cases, husbands genuinely want to help, but they are not always sure how to do so in a way that actually lightens the load. When they come across Quiet Lux, it feels like a tangible, thoughtful way to support their wives by removing friction from daily life rather than adding another task or responsibility.’

Rich husbands have turned to Livne’s membership company to hire discreet help, with memberships from $500 for a trial month, then $750 monthly, or $7,500 for an annual membership. 

Husbands with ‘very little spare mental bandwidth’ are gifting their wives a $7,500 annual subscription to a private concierge service. A stock photo of a personal assistant  

Livne’s team will help tired moms and wives do everything from plan parties, handle holiday gifts, find the right doctor and coordinate medical records to sourcing childcare and everything in-between.

Quiet Lux’s biggest client base is in New York City but it works across the tri-state area. Many of its customers come from healthcare and finance – careers that offer little breathing room, the CEO said. 

‘At its core, Quiet Lux exists to be the company that can figure things out, whatever the request may be and to do so in a way that reflects each member’s individual taste, standards and preferences. Our role isn’t just to execute requests, but to absorb the mental load and quietly make life run more smoothly,’ Livne said.

‘One of our founding members described it to us as giving her the ability to finally exhale,’ Livne told the Daily Mail. 

And if a husband wants to subscribe to the service for himself, yes, these assistants can find their wife a Christmas present.

Quiet Lux plans to expand to Miami in 2026. 

Who needs AirPods when you can have $700 gold leaf earbuds that were handcrafted in France. America’s wealthiest parents are purchasing Devialet’s earbuds for their children

Many of the upper echelon are opting to pay $8,600 or two phantom speakers from Devialet as gifts this year 

2) Music to your ears

Many may have a fresh set of Apple AirPods on their Christmas list, but the wealthy want a more luxurious experience. 

Devialet, which was founded in France in 2007, offers a more glitzy take on headphones and sound systems selling its cheapest earbuds for $499 and a gold-leaf version for a whopping $799. 

It also offers a gold-leaf $25,000 speaker. Devialet claim their products are more than merely a sound system, they’re art.

Head of North America for Devialet, Rodrigo Arrambide, told the Daily Mail the earbuds are proving particularly popular among wealthy parents who are buying them for their children. 

Phantom speakers, that give the ultimate listening experience are in demand. He said you need two for ‘the full effect’ that will cost up to $8,600.

AirPods 4, for comparison, start at $127 and go up to $179. Apple’s most expensive set is the AirPods 3 Pro, which retail for $249. Apple’s product only comes in one color and has no option to add a little sparkle. Nor does it offer that French artisanal air of heritage and craftsmanship that Devialet is promising its extremely wealthy customer base. 

‘Making investments in products and people doesn’t come cheap,’ Arrambide told the Daily Mail. ‘It’s the best holiday season we’ve had in the last five years.’ 

And if you haven’t heard of the European brand, that’s kind of the point. The wealthy love a covert brand that an average income earner doesn’t even know exists, Devialet believes and it doesn’t plan to change that.

Devialet advertisements won’t be seen on billboards or in a Best Buy, but it’s a brand that is prepared to go the extra mile, or even thousands for its customers. 

When one shopper wanted his new speaker to be flown overnight to China and set up before he even arrived home, the firm was only too happy to oblige. 

‘It’s not that the product is complex [to set up], it’s extremely simple, but they don’t even want to bother with the simplicity of it. They want something that is already part of their living room, part of their life.’

Head of North America for Devialet Rodrigo Arrambide told Daily Mail that their sound systems are also works of art

3) Have a hair-raising holiday

One of the hardest things about holiday shopping is avoiding the urge to buy gifts for yourself. And many wealthy women are giving into that desire and snapping up some very expensive hair extensions.

Married couple Jonathan and Whitney Sexsmith founded Prolonged Hair and told the Daily Mail: ‘There’s a rise in luxury self-gifting. For many clients, it’s less about being given hair and more about choosing to invest in how they feel.

‘We see increased demand during the holiday season, largely because people want to look their best for events, travel, and photos.

‘Our pricing varies depending on length, shade, and system, including tape-ins, wefts, and keratin bonds. Our current range starts around $300 and extends into the $50,000+ range for highly customized, one-of-one orders.’ 

One of the firm’s wealthiest customers bought a ‘very high five-figure order’ that consisted of 36-inch hair extensions that were 100 percent raw, human hair, with the cuticle intact and dye-free. 

Prolonged Hair hand-inspects every strand and ensures it knows exactly where the hair is coming from.

‘We only accept the highest-quality raw hair into our factory. We oversee every step of processing. We independently test every batch. If a single strand fails specification, it is discarded at our cost before it ever ships,’ the founders said.

Many are indulging in a gift for themselves this holiday season by buying very expensive hair extensions 

The Prolonged Hair products cost from $300 up to $50,000 or more. Many women are buying the extensions for themselves

4) A Fifth Avenue facial at home

As many things are in the world of celebrity, it’s on a ‘if you know, you know’ basis, and Tracie Martyn’s Red Carpet Facials are among a top secret skincare item, cofounder Marius Morariu told the Daily Mail.

With a spa on New York’s Fifth Avenue, their skincare brand’s services have been a cult favorite among those hitting exclusive events like the Met Gala and New York Fashion Week. 

Celebrities including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Kate Winslet have been among their famous customers over the years.

But you don’t have to go to the salon to enjoy the products and their results.

Husbands and wives are gifting each other tight skin in a one-ounce bottle retailing for $198 to hopefully look like singer Cyndi Lauper, who uses the brand’s firming serum, Morariu said. 

Pictured from left, Cyndi Lauper loves Tracie Martyn’s firming serum, White Lotus actor Lukas Gage uses the brand’s $68 toner and SNL’s Chloe Fineman uses the face resculpting cream

Cofounder of Tracie Martyn Marius Morariu spoke to Daily Mail about the celebrities who love its products

White Lotus actor Lukas Gage is also a fan of the brand’s absolute purity toner, which retails for $68, and SNL’s Chloe Fineman uses the face resculpting cream, which goes for $122 for 2.4 ounces. 

‘Today, it’s essentially a bio- and beauty-hacking gym for your face and for anyone who prefers to stimulate the skin rather than inject or cut, or who wants to work synergistically alongside more invasive medispa treatments,’ Morariu said.