And the gift basket goes to ...

It was all about glitz and glamour at Skosh Monahan’s in Costa Mesa Sunday.

The restaurant and bar hosted a red carpet and Oscar party in honor of the 80th Annual Academy Awards with patrons dressed up to enjoy the event.

Lisa Schultz has been putting on a red carpet party for nine years and helps orchestrate the party at Monahan’s.

“Each year it has got bigger and bigger, more and more fun,” said Schultz who three years ago approached Gary Monahan, president and chief executive of the restaurant about holding the party at his restaurant.

The night starts out with women, many of whom are clients of Schultz’s from her Crowning Glory studio in Costa Mesa, critiquing and admiring celebrity fashion on the red carpet.

“I look to see if [celebrities] are being daring,” Schultz said. “As long as they are being edgy and daring, [I like it].”

Guests can fill out Oscar nominee ballots and the person with the most right answers wins a prize. Shultz supplied the grand prize, which is a gift basket with hair products. Second prize was a massage from her studio. Monahan donated a gift certificate for the third-place prize.

While some of the patrons weren’t familiar with all the movies, there were still favorites among the crowd.

“I really liked ‘American Gangster,’” said Julie Johnson of Costa Mesa. “I am really upset I didn’t see ‘No Country For Old Men.’”

Vickie Hunt of Costa Mesa was upset that “Into the Wild” didn’t garner a nomination.

“It was one of my favorite movies,” she said. “It should get more attention for the music, movie, acting.”

For Schultz and Monahan, the big winner was the party which almost didn’t happen due to the writer’s strike. When a deal was struck, they went into action to put together this year’s party.

“We scrambled for 10 days, got everything together and got everything running,” Schultz said. “It’s really fun.”

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at [email protected].