HOLIDAYS IN THE VALLEY : Best Bets : Shopping: A holiday gift list that takes recipients’ special interests into account can make the annual challenge a little easier.

If only Santa really did show up with gifts for your loved ones, imagine how happy and carefree Christmas would be. Alas, in the real world, the responsibility for selecting just the right thing for just the right person rests on the shoulders of all those over the age of, say, 8.

One of the easiest and most successful strategies for gift giving involves capitalizing on the recipient’s special interest. Here are a few suggestions to fill out your shopping list.

FANCY FOODSTUFFS

* Sure, it’s easy to find and send someone a calorie-ridden cheesecake or a fat-laden chocolate Santa. The challenge lies in sending something healthy as well as tasty. Look to the people at Basket Express in Encino.

Owner Penelope Saltsburg will wrap up a plethora of perfectly nutritious snacks, beverages and desserts that are trimmed of fat and sugar, where appropriate.

Included are low-fat soup mixes, baked corn chips, fat-free bean dip, egg yolk-free herb pastas, fat-free eggplant pate, dried tomatoes and tasty bread sticks. For the sweet tooth there is 16-calorie-a-teaspoon chocolate sauce with less than 1% cholesterol, trail mix, dried fruits, granola and sparkling fruit ciders.

Everything Saltsburg sends out receives the seal of approval from Harriet Roth, cookbook author and former director of Pritikin Cooking School.

Prices start at $45, and the sky’s the limit. Saltsburg prefers orders be placed three days in advance. Delivery charges in the Valley range from $4 to $10. Shipping via UPS within the Valley costs about $6. (Divinely decadent edibles are also available.) Basket Express, P.O. Box 260444, Encino, (818) 981-1940.

GOLF

* Serious golfers may whisper on the course, but they can talk as loud as they want on a golf phone. At Nevada Bob’s Discount Golf & Tennis, golf-themed phones are a big hit and come in a number of colors: black and red, brown and beige, and red and white.

The phone and receiver look like a golf bag and feature movable clubs--three woods and eight silver irons--that can be pulled up and down during boring telephone conversations. The interior of the earpiece and mouthpiece of the receiver resemble (what else?) golf balls.

Manufactured and warranted by Fremont, Calif.-based Bondwell, the phone features mute, redial, touch tone and pulse features. There’s even a place to house note paper and pencil. It sells for $59.99 at Nevada Bob’s Discount Golf & Tennis, 21725 Vanowen St., Canoga Park, (818) 884-8452.

LINGERIE

* The hip lingerie item these days is the control slip (formerly the girdle). These sexy little pull-ons make clothes look sleeker and, on the vogue and immodest, double as skirts. The newest thing on the control slip takes the concept from underwire bra to thigh in a full-slip length. The undergarments come in black or white by Subtract, Vanity Fair and Lady Lynne, and range in price from $36 to $40 at Nordstrom, Topanga Plaza, Canoga Park, (818) 884-7900.

FRAGRANCE

* Sidestep the blitzkrieg of celebrity scents and present your special someone with an off-the-beaten-path scent for far less green than you’d shell out for White Diamonds. At Body Scents in Sherman Oaks, entire fragrance baskets can be had for the price of a quarter-ounce of celebrity perfume. The shop’s essential oils sell for $7.75 per quarter-ounce. Scent companions also include body lotion, bubble bath and shower gel (each is 16 ounces and costs $14). Talcum powder is $7.50 for three ounces and one bar of glycerin soap is $3.

The shop will wrap the loot in a natural or pastel wicker basket lined with silk flowers for around $8. Grand Total: $68.25, well under the price of Calvin Klein’s Obsession and far more original. Plus, it’s the environmentally trendy gift: Recipients can recycle empty containers. Body Scents, 13826 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 905-6744.

ELECTRONICS

* If your favorite electronics buffs don’t have CDs, this is the year to indulge them. The Phillips CDI (Compact Disc Interactive) allows viewers to become a part of on-screen action.

The system features a special CD and video player (sorry, it won’t play laser discs or tapes but does plays 3- and 5-inch compact discs). It comes with two interactive games for viewers.

There is the Palm Springs Open, which allows the viewer to make golf swings while sports commentators critique form and play. The sophisticated computer-generated picture is incredibly lifelike.

The other game, Golden Oldies, allows viewers to select tunes from an on-screen jukebox image. Once the tune is selected, a music video from the ‘50s or ‘60s (translation: film clips from historic concert appearances) is played.

The system, which sells for $798, is available at The Good Guys, 9054 Tampa Ave., Northridge, (818) 885-5100.

GARDENING

* Even the most ambitious gardener can’t make up for the destruction of the rain forest. However, gift givers wanting to improve the environment on their own turf may like Pet Trees (no relation to last year’s Chia Pet).

Housed in a no-frills recycled paper box, this kit contains everything a gardener needs except dirt to plant 30 Douglas firs.

Included in the kit is a packet of 30 seeds selected from Oregon trees, peat growing containers, peat blocks, a 16-page instruction booklet and markers for planting strategies. No garden tools are included. This kit is for gardeners who like to dig with their hands. A slightly larger-than-stocking-stuffer-size box runs $14.95. Adventure 16, Tarzana, (818) 345-4266.

JEWELRY

* Inspirations for the season’s most unusual jewelry comes from unlikely places--like the dinner table. Karl Lagerfeld of Chanel fame created a brushed gold-tone fork pin featuring pearl-tipped tines and a monogram at the base of the stem. It sells for $130 and, needless to say, is not meant for dining. The fork is available at I. Magnin, Promenade Mall, Woodland Hills, (818) 887-5151.

BEAUTY

* Even the woman who has everything can use some time to herself--and a few indulgences with which to fill it. A special holiday gift package at The Facemaker Skin Care Salon in Westlake Village features a deep-cleansing facial, body massage, loofah body glow (a head-to-toe exfoliation treatment) and a professional makeup application. The three-hour holiday package is $100 (regular price is $124). Lunch (extra) will be delivered during an appointment on request. The Facemaker Skin Care Salon, 32129 W. Lindero Canyon Road, Westlake Village, (818) 889-3223.

TOYS

* The Tyco Magic Copier lets kids pretend to be office-busy grown-ups. Using a special stylus, a junior artist etches a design on the carbon, which is disguised by the screen. The image is easily erased so kids can start over. Parents hoping to use the copier too should take note; it can’t reproduce loose sheets. Magic Copier comes with the stylus, six sheets of carbon paper, 40 sheets of multicolored copy paper and the special screen/copier unit. It sells for $22.99 at Toys R Us, 16040 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, (818) 780-5115.

MEN’S ACCESSORIES

* Help him work smarter with a pair of suspenders emblazoned with Albert Einstein, the face that launched a thousand brilliant ideas. The black and white silk braces feature black lizard tabs and are made by Cole Hahn. They sell for $100 at Saks Fifth Avenue, Promenade Mall, Woodland Hills, (818) 340-7826.

BOOKS

* If Christmas doesn’t bring out the child in you, then perhaps “Bill Cosby’s Childhood” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $14.95) might delight. The 188-page volume is chock full of the usual Cosby anecdotes, stories and knee-slapping jokes. Bonus: Nice big print makes it easy on the eyes. Crown Books, 16826 Devonshire, Granada Hills, (818) 892-6646.