A Neiman Marcus Christmas: What dreams are made of

When money is no object, flip open the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book.

Since 1926, the Dallas-based luxury retailer has published a catalog that features high-end jewelry, couture and objects d'art.

But it's not the Prada handbags or slinky Michael Kors evening dresses that people turn to first. The offerings that draw the most disbelief or derision are the dream gifts -- outlandish and outre playthings that seem sprung from the toybox of some Hollywood movie mogul or bored billionaire sultan.

Surely, no other luxury retailer published a catalog -- as Neiman Marcus has in the past -- with a $20 million submarine, a private concert by Sir Elton John or futuristic or limited-edition cars and aircraft designed to confer a James Bond cool upon their owner.

This year, the Neiman Marcus gift that really takes the cake is the Customized Cupcake Car designed by San Francisco artist Lisa Pongrace. It looks like something John Lennon might have imagined in his "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" phase. Priced at $25,000, the Cupcake Car is powered with a 24-volt electric motor with a top speed of 7 mph.

The gifts are chosen by Ginger Reeder, vice president of public relations for Neiman Marcus Direct. As the person whose job it is to outdo herself every year, she's obliged to sort through thousands of e-mails from companies looking to place their product with the catalog. She also peruses newspapers for unusual inventions and solicits suggestions from their global staff.

"It's really got to be different, unusual, and it has to have that sort of intangible quality of, 'Oh my gosh, who would think of something like this• Who would buy something like this?'" she says.

The prices in this year's catalog are downright terrestrial, at least by Neiman Marcus standards. The most expensive item is the His and Hers ICON A5 Sports Aircraft, priced at $250,000 each. The two-seater features a GPS system, carbon-fiber frame and "spy-movie wings" that can rotate and fold up. The price includes a custom, high-tech trailer and pilot license training for two.

Reeder says the lower prices are not related to last year's public relations debacle, when their 2008 catalog was released in the midst of the worldwide credit crisis. With cascading home foreclosures and disintegrating 401k's, no one was in the mood to read about buying an actual end zone from the Dallas Cowboys Texas Stadium for $500,000.

Because the catalog was assembled nearly 8 months in advance, Neiman Marcus was taken by surprise like everyone else, Reeder says.

"Everyone was feeling this sort of gut-wrenching anxiety. Lehman Brothers had just folded. Everyone was spinning, just trying to get a sense of what's going on. In the midst of this, we come out with 'Happy Holidays.'"

Reeder says she engaged in some soul-searching regarding this year's catalog. But she says Neiman Marcus has to stay true to its mission of offering the very best items in the world.

She has turned down suggestions for gifts she considers tacky and wasteful, such as a gold-plated golf ball or a diamond-encrusted trailer hitch.

"We're encouraging people to have fantasies at holiday time, to dream a little bit," she says. "We're not making a statement that everybody needs to have one of these things."

Neiman Marcus collaborates with charitable organizations on some gifts.

For example, a woman purchased that private concert by Sir Elton John advertised in the 2005 Christmas Book. The cost was $1.5 million. The money went to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

"It was for her wedding," Reeder says. "My suspicion was that it wasn't her first."

Subscriptions for the Neiman Marcus Christmas book are $15.

Additional Information:

Wish list

Some items in this year's Neiman Marcus Christmas Book:

• Faux-Jewel Stocking Box and Chocolates. $50

• Pair of crystal-encrusted safety-pin-style earrings by Janis Savitt. $315

• Manolo Blahnik suede booties. $835

• Maker's Mark Master Distiller Experience, a fantasy-camp-style trip to the eminent Kentucky whiskey distillery. Includes two bottles of rare, aged whiskey etched with buyer's likeness. $7,500

• 2010 Jaguar XJL Supercharged Neiman Marcus Edition. Only 50 of these cars will be made. Take note: limit is one per customer. $105,000

• Algonquin Round Table Experience. Dine at the legendary Algonquin Round Table at the famous New York hotel of the same name. Trade quips and epigrams at a private dinner with George Stephanopoulos, Nora Ephron, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Christopher Buckley and Malcolm Gladwell, among others. Neiman Marcus will donate the proceeds to First Book, which has distributed more than 65 million new books to children. The price also includes a donation in the buyer's name of 10,000 books to children in the state of their choice. $200,000

Details: 800-634-6267 or Web site .