"OFFICIALLY, the Florida Art Basel is open to the public from Dec. 2 through Dec. 5, at the Miami Beach Convention Center. But thanks to Miami's party-hearty spirit, it actually starts two days earlier, with events spread all over town. So those who fail to get invitations to Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz's dinner party for 700 at their house in Key Biscayne on Nov. 30 need not fret. With a 22-page list of official happenings and two independent fringe art fairs -- -scopeMiami at the Townhouse Hotel and NADA in the the Ice Palace Film Studios -- the problem this year isn't finding A-list galas, it's narrowing the list.

Take Thursday night. That's when Visionaire, an art and fashion quarterly, will unveil 10 toys designed for it by celebrity designers like Valentino, Miuccia Prada and Karl Lagerfeld. That party, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Shore Club's beach pool, will take place about the same time as the Piaget watch company's party honoring young artists just down the street at Casa Casuarina, the former Versace mansion.

Casa Casuarina, a membership club along the lines of the Soho House in New York, has been undergoing a soft opening since Halloween (it opens officially on Jan. 29). Even so, Barton G, a local event planner, is catering four events there during the art fair. Art Basel is ''too dignified'' for his typical circus-theme parties, he said, so no trapeze artists overhead or live giraffes.

But if you're not one of the 400 people invited, the vistas, not to mention the exotic tapas and martinis, are equally good at the Spire Bar, designed by Todd Oldham and newly opened on the roof of the Hotel a few blocks down Collins Avenue.

Then there are the various neighborhoods that are jockeying to get in on the action. Many of Miami's on-the-edge galleries and private collections are across Biscayne Bay in gritty, industrial Wynwood, including the just expanded 45,000-square-foot Margulies collection, and Debra and Dennis Scholl's World Class Boxing, a former gym that now houses installations too large for the Scholls' home. A Friday night private party will celebrate the opening of the area's newest major collection, a 10,000-square-foot warehouse owned by Tony Goldman, the Miami and New York real estate mogul. Mr. Goldman describes his collection, which will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon daily during Art Basel, as ''primarily abstract color field painting,'' but it also includes a 1932 Packard. ''In Miami we don't take ourselves too seriously,'' he explained.

Just uptown is the Design District, where from 9 p.m. to midnight on Saturday NE Second Avenue will be closed to traffic for a replay of last year's major night-life draw, Art Loves Design. During the street party there will be 30 scheduled special exhibits, art gallery and design showroom hopping, plus performance art, live music and a lot of free snacks and drinks.

''What I wanted to do was to make sure the whole city celebrated art'' during the Art Basel week, said Craig Robins, an art collector who is also the major owner of real estate in the Design District and the chief force behind its rejuvenation. ''Since the Design District is a sort of creative laboratory anyway, I thought it would be the ideal venue for adding a cultural dimension to the event and celebrating art.''

He seems to have succeeded. The main complaint among roughly 10,000 celebrants last year was insufficient parking space. Mr. Robins promised much more parking, and, this being Miami, ''many more valets'' this year.

While some of art fair's warm welcomes -- and hot night-life opportunities -- are extended to the public, others, including many of the house parties, are technically meant for V.I.P.'s only. For the connected, parties at the homes of big collectors have become the hallmark of the fair and its biggest distinction from the Swiss original (aside from the 80-degree weather and the beach, of course). ." [Via nytimes.com]

The PimpWiz.com Bottom Line: We went to The design district last night and it was one of the sickest events out there. Free alchol and free parties with amazing art to look at.Such a good mix of miami locals, hipster and just straight cool. Get yourself down to the parties in the design district this weekend if you know what's good for you!