Your Stress-Free Holiday Starts Here

Genius Gift Ideas

Shop smarter. This year, instead of spending hours and hours agonizing over the perfect present for every single person on your list, buy one clever, creative item in multiples that you can give to everyone from your niece to your colleague in the next cubicle, advise Joe Lupo and Jesse Garza, founders of Visual Therapy, a personal style and shopping service based in New York City. Stock up on a few extras in case you need a last-minute present for your child's babysitter or the neighbor down the street. These items also make great hostess gifts.

Stumped about what to get -- and don't want to resort to a bottle of wine or a candle yet again? Here's Lupo and Garza's holiday gift-buying cheat sheet.

• iTunes gift cards
• Movie passes
• Starbucks cards
• Fine olive oils: Says Lupo, "They're the new fruit preserve."
• Anthousa Home Ambiance Perfume: "For the holidays, there's an Edelweiss Red Holly perfume that's perfect," says Lupo. Prices start at $36; anthousacollection.com.
• Gift bags from NYCSnax: Features unique and authentic snacks and treats from classic New York City neighborhoods like Chinatown, Little Italy, and Little India. "An alternative to the more traditional barrel of popcorn," says Lupo. $39.99; nycsnax.com.

Get loads more gift ideas from FitnessMagazine.com.

Tip: 33 percent of Americans wait until December 23 or later to wrap their holiday gifts. To keep your last-minute stress levels from soaring, start a week earlier this year.

Originally published in FITNESS magazine, December 2006.