Got $7.1 M? Neiman Marcus tops 2018 fantasy gifts with yacht

Need a $7.1 million yacht? How about jumping out of a plane on a top secret spy mission with a $315,000 price tag? Perhaps a backyard luxury clubhouse sounds better, or a million pieces of candy.

No matter your taste, if you've got big bucks this is your time of year. The Dallas-based Neiman Marcus luxury department store company showed off its 2018 list of over-the-top fantasy gifts , with an emphasis on fantasy for those of us in the 99 percent. The list always garners plenty of attention, from those who covet the items and those who heap on scorn at its outrageousness.

A portion of proceeds goes to The Heart of Neiman Marcus Foundation for student arts support and other projects.

Colleen Atwood appears with two of her designs from "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," during a preview of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book in New York, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. The Oscar-winning costume designer will design a custom piece and treat two for the day to lunch, swag and a possible film set tour of whatever project she might be working on at the time for $300,000. (AP PhotoRichard Drew)

A peek inside:

TIGERS & THE TAJ MAHAL

For $630,000, your gift recipient and three guests can travel by private jet on a 30-day trip to India, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. There will be five-star hotels, secluded lodges and chic safari tents. But this is a wellness trip, so time with yoga masters, Hindu priests and monks is also involved. So is a helicopter tour of the Himalayas and island cruises on a yacht.

A display highlighting the Secret Agent experience appears during a preview of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book in New York, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. Fly to Las Vegas on a private jet for a three-day, two-night espionage adventure. A mystery man in a tuxedo greets a group of four with a top secret mission, including racing supercars and jumping out of planes, all with help from retired special ops forces (AP PhotoRichard Drew)

SPEAKING OF YACHTS

Topping this year's offerings is a solar-driven, 74-foot bespoke yacht that comfortably sleeps 12. There's a fully functional kitchen, state-of-the-art music and entertainment system and — perhaps the best part — a Neiman Marcus shopping spree before heading out to explore the deep blue sea.

SECRET AGENT MAN OR WOMAN

A display previewing travel to India, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives with travel purveyor Black Tomato appears during a preview of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book in New York, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. For $630,000, your gift recipient and three guests can travel by private jet on a 30-day trip to India, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives with five-star hotels, secluded lodges and chic safari tents. But this is a wellness trip, so time with yoga masters, Hindu priests and monks is also involved. (AP PhotoRichard Drew)

Know any Bond fanatics? This experience will satisfy armchair operatives and adrenaline junkies alike. Fly to Las Vegas on a private jet for a three-day, two-night espionage adventure. A mystery man in a tuxedo greets a group of four with a top secret mission, including racing supercars and jumping out of planes, all with help from retired special ops forces.

HIPPO IN A TUTU GUY

New Yorkers and New York visitors may remember the 15-foot bronze hippo in the tutu at Lincoln Center that's now gone. Well, that artist, Danish sculptor Bjorn Okholm Skaarup, can cast a family pet or favorite creature for a giftee, complete with a trip to Florence, Italy, to spend time with Skaarup himself at his foundry. $200,000-plus, depending on the size of the bronze tribute.

A display of Sugarfina is displayed during a preview of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book in New York, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. For $325,000, Sugarfina will set up a custom candy bar and ship off four people first class to the Italian Riviera for a luxe hotel stay and visit to the company's candy factory in Genoa. The sugar junkies will spend the day with the company's founders, take a behind-the-scenes tour and create some custom candy of their own. They will also receive candy shipments for up to three years. (AP PhotoRichard Drew)

SUGAR JUNKIES UNITE

For $325,000, Sugarfina will set up a custom candy bar and ship off four people first class to the Italian Riviera for a luxe hotel stay and visit to the company's candy factory in Genoa. The sugar junkies will spend the day with the company's founders, take a behind-the-scenes tour and create some custom candy of their own. The sweetest part: Candy shipments home for up to three years.

COSPLAY WITH AN OSCAR WINNER

A day collaborating with costume designer Colleen Atwood on a one-of-a-kind outfit inspired by "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," priced at $300,000, is displayed during a preview of the Neimen Marcus Christmas Book 2018, New York, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. (AP PhotoRichard Drew)

Costume designer Colleen Atwood, who focuses on fantasy in such films as "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass," will design a custom piece and treat two for the day to lunch, swag and a possible film set tour of whatever project she might be working on at the time. Side note: She has four Academy Awards. $300,000.

TENNIS ANYONE?

Be the VIP of Sloane Stephens, winner of the U.S. Open last year, and bring a guest to all four of the sports Grand Slam events. That means trips to Paris, London, New York and Melbourne, Australia for a week in each place. Stephens will throw in a 45-minute match. $555,000.

Brady White, dressed as Santa, is flanked by models presenting the Tennis Majors experience during a preview of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book in New York, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. For $555,000, you can be the VIP of tennis great Sloane Stephens, winner of the U.S. Open last year. And bring a guest to all four of the circuit's major events. That means trips to Paris, London, New York and Melbourne, Australia for a week in each place. Stephens will also throw in a 45-minute match. (AP PhotoRichard Drew)

HE SHED, SHE SHED

A sanctuary of self-care or a den of indulgence? You decide. The folks at Studio Shed and Mark Ashby Design swing both ways in these custom backyard spaces measuring 10-feet-by-12-feet. From art to finishes. A logistical team is provided for installation. $250,000.

A model of the 74-foot Neiman Marcus Serenity Solar Yacht is displayed during a preview of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book in New York, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. The solar-driven yacht that comfortably sleeps 12, comes with a fully functional kitchen, state-of-the-art music and entertainment system and a Neiman Marcus shopping spree before heading out to explore the deep blue sea. (AP PhotoRichard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. births fell last year, resuming a long national slide.

A little under 3.6 million babies were born in 2023, according to provisional statistics released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's about 76,000 fewer than the year before and the lowest one-year tally since 1979.

U.S. births were slipping for more than a decade before COVID-19 hit, then dropped 4% from 2019 to 2020. They ticked up for two straight years after that, an increase experts attributed, in part, to pregnancies that couples had put off amid the pandemic's early days.

But “the 2023 numbers seem to indicate that bump is over and we're back to the trends we were in before,” said Nicholas Mark, a University of Wisconsin researcher who studies how social policy and other factors influence health and fertility.

Birth rates have long been falling for teenagers and younger women, but rising for women in their 30s and 40s — a reflection of women pursuing education and careers before trying to start families, experts say. But last year, birth rates fell for all women younger than 40, and were flat for women in their 40s.

Mark called that development surprising and said “there's some evidence that not just postponement is going on.”

Rates fell across almost all racial and ethnic groups.

The numbers released Thursday are based on more than 99.9% of the birth certificates filed in 2023, but they are provisional and the final birth count can change as they are finalized. For example, the provisional 2022 birth count appeared to show a dip, but ended up being higher than 2021's tally when the analysis was completed.

There could be an adjustment to the 2023 data, but it won't be enough to erase the “sizeable” decline seen in the provisional numbers, said the CDC's Brady Hamilton, the new report's first author.

Experts have wondered how births might be affected by the June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed states to ban or restrict abortion. Experts estimate that nearly half of pregnancies are unintended, so limits to abortion access could affect the number of births.

The new report indicates that the decision didn't lead to a national increase in births, but the researchers didn't analyze birth trends in individual states or dissect data among all demographic groups.

The new data does raise the possibility of an impact on teens. The U.S. teen birth rate has been falling decades, but the decline has been less dramatic in recent years, and the drop seems to have stopped for teen girls ages 15 to 17.

“That could be Dobbs,” said Dr. John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health and pediatrics. Or it could be related to changes in sex education or access to contraception, he added.

Whatever the case, the flattening of birth rates for high school students is worrisome and indicates that “whatever we're doing for kids in middle and high school is faltering,” Santelli said.

More findings from the report:

—From 2022 to 2023, the provisional number of births fell 5% for American Indian and Alaska Native women, 4% for Black women, 3% for white women and 2% for Asian American women. Births rose 1% for Hispanic women.

—The percentage of babies born preterm held about steady.

—The cesarean section birth rate rose again, to 32.4% of births. Some experts worry that C-sections are done more often than medically necessary.

—The U.S. was once among only a few developed countries with a fertility rate that ensured each generation had enough children to replace itself — about 2.1 kids per woman. But it’s been sliding, and in 2023 dropped to about 1.6, the lowest rate on record.

Surveys suggest many U.S. couples would prefer to have two or more kids but see housing, job security and the cost of child care as significant obstacles to having more children.

“There's something getting in the way of them being able to achieve those goals,” Mark said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - A pregnant woman stands for a portrait in Dallas, Thursday, May 18, 2023. According to provisional statistics for 2023 released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday, April 25, 2024, U.S. births fell last year, in a substantial drop marking an apparent end to pandemic-related fluctuations and a return to a long-standing national decline. A little under 3.6 million babies were born in the U.S. last year, about 76,000 fewer than the year before. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)