The Lisa Golightly Press for Champagne Button (see bottom of post for buying details)

Oh. my. goodness.

An emergency button that you press and a bellman materializes before you with a tray of crisp, cold, fizzy champagne? Why yes, I don’t mind if I do. It is Wednesday, after all, which constitutes a mid-week emergency of sorts. We must lift our chins, sit up a little straighter in our ergonomic chairs, take a deep, cleansing breath and fortify ourselves for the remaining 2 week days ahead, right girls? A glass of champagne is just the ticket.

Okay, I’m kidding. But in all sobriety, how genius is this? Even Lewis Carroll’s wild imagination overlooked the ridiculous brilliance of such a thing. Which made me question… from whence did this stroke of brilliance originate anyhow? And wouldn’t this make such a creative bridesmaid, mother’s day, birthday, thank you gift?

My research led me down a veritable rabbit hole chasing the origins of the emergency Press for Champagne button. Unlike Alice, my curiosity compelled me to discover the following:

Nina Petronzio and the Montage Beverly Hills Hotel have been receiving some press about their use of the button in the newly designed Film Noir Suite on the hotel’s property.

2014 marks the centennial anniversary of the city of Beverly Hills, and 5 of the swankiest hotels in Beverly Hills have redesigned a luxury suite at their own expense to commemorate the occasion. Montage and Petronzio teamed up to concoct a decadent homage to the 1940s with their imagining of a Film Noir Suite, featuring vintage-inspired furnishings, music, and even an old school menu (with an on-call bellman pouring champagne at the ready, obviously!) available for the bargain price of just $1914/night. The price tag, humorously, reflects the year that Beverly Hills was born. I gotta tell you, for 100 years Beverly looks good, as well she should. I have it on good authority that she shares a plastic surgeon with Joan Rivers.

But I digress… what I next found was that the concept for an emergency Press for Champagne button has been around at least since 2009.

Across the Atlantic ocean there exists a magical place known as Bob Bob Ricard, Central London’s take on “diner deluxe.” The restaurant has been offering an emergency Press for Champagne button since 2009. Their concept is eccentric but glamorous and is well regarded by the TripAdvisor community: a “diner” full of booth seating only, furnished luxuriously like an art-deco hotel lobby, attended by waitstaff in pink waistcoats, and offering a menu that straddles British comfort foods and Russian decadence. Guests dine on fish pie, cheese soufflé, beef Wellington, herring and caviar, and a decadent golden globe the size of a softball that is all at once part chocolate brownie, part chocolate mousse, part meringue, and passionfruit orange jelly.

My mind was blown by the gold-dripped “chocolate glory,” but they really went in for the kill when the masterminds behind Bob Bob Ricard decided to outfit each table with its own Press for Champagne button. It literally summons a white-gloved waiter to your table with a trolley of sparkling French wine.

Want Your Own Press for Champagne Button?

While I’ve probably lost half of you to researching flights to London right about now, for those of you still interested there is a way to enjoy your own Press for Champagne emergency button without involving Mary Poppins, transatlantic travel, or $1914/night hotel charges:

OPTION 1: Check out Lisa Golightly and her Etsy store full of handmade emergency buttons. She even has a Pool Boy emergency button for those days when you just can’t bear to lift your own daiquiri.

OPTION 2: If you’re feeling crafty, or prefer a more budget-friendly alternative, you can make your own for about $20 using this DIY Press for Champagne button tutorial by Kelly at Sequins and Scissors.