From spa treatments to wine baskets, this checklist of goodies will win you major points with customers.

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Time to dust off your corporate gift-giving list and figure out who’s been naughty and who’s been nice—and who you really ought to remember at the holidays if you want their business in 2006! To make your shopping easier, I’ve organized ideas and gift suggestions by theme. I hope this makes your corporate gift-shopping a bit easier this year.

Gift baskets filled with a variety of goodies are sure to please.

Everyone eats, so everyone is sure to appreciate the gift of food. Just make sure the food is easy to share, such as the individually wrapped brownies you’ll get from Fairytale Brownies at brownies.com. You can get a box filled with 48 brownies for $79, with a mix of flavors ranging from walnut to peanut butter to coconut. Last year, a client of mine sent me a treasure trove of treats from the Dancing Deer Company of Boston, and my taste buds went crazy when I tried the Sugar Cane Lime cookies. (The package also included Lavender-Scented Shortbreads and Molasses Clove cookies.) I checked on dancingdeer.com, and my basket cost $46.95. Or you could send the gift of food with sentimental value. For the client whose heart remains below the Mason Dixon line, though he no longer lives there, send a box of BBQ—ribs, pulled pork, barbecue sauce and more—from Sticky Fingers in Memphis (stickyfingersonline.com). A feast for 24 will set you back $250. Or, if a business associate is always waxing poetic about the Chesapeake, send her a baker’s dozen of crab cakes ($72) from the Chesapeake Bay Gourmet company at cbgourmet.com.

Need a gift to impress? Buy yours from an upscale company.

This year, don’t send your special client a trinket—instead buy your gift from an upscale retailer or company. For the client who takes great pride in her handwritten correspondence, you should look toward Montblanc (montblanc.com) for some of the finest writing instruments available today, such as the gold-plated fountain pen ($610). When you buy a gift from a company well-known for quality craftsmanship, you also know it will come packaged in a fabulous box, such as Tiffany’s trademark robin’s egg blue.

Give the gift of comfort, such as treating someone to a spa service.

A gift certificate for a manicure is always a good idea for someone who uses her hands a lot, whether it’s your secretary who doubles as your typing machine or an educator you know gets down on the floor with her kids. For someone who is tied to his desk, you may want to look into a present that offers some desktop stress relief, such as the Stress Relief Set ($24.99 from Office Depot), which includes a stress ball, a massaging back pillow to place on an office chair, a gel wrist pad and a CD of relaxing music. When giving the gift of comfort, be careful about your choices—especially if you’re giving to a member of the opposite sex. You don’t want your good wishes to be misconstrued or, worse, taken as sexual harassment. Years ago, a female client gave Randi Leader, a marketing executive in Atlanta, a gift certificate for bath goodies. “I love anything that makes you smell good, and since I knew her well, I didn’t feel awkward when I received her gift,” says Leader. “However, if I’d just met her, that gift might have felt a little weird.”

Selecting a present that fits in with a hobby is always a smart move.

One of the best ways to give your gift the personal edge is to craft it around a hobby. Does your client go all in for poker? Treat her to anything from the World Poker Tour collection—shirts, chips, books on poker from worldpokertour.com—and your gift definitely won’t flop. What about the book lover or collector? You can treat him to a rare first edition of A Christmas Carol or thousands of other books by working with the Argosy Book Store (argosybooks.com) in New York, which specializes in hard-to-find titles. Got a golf enthusiast on your gift list? You’ll score a hole in one by giving him the new Club Glove Golf Bag ($259), the preferred bag of PGA Players (clubglove.com). For car lovers, you can drive the gift recipient wild by sending him for driving lessons with NASCAR, such as the Richard Petty Driving Experience (1800bepetty.com), where 30 laps on the track will set you back $1,249, or the BMW Performance Center Driving School in Spartanburg, S. C. (bmwusa.com), which offers women-only classes ($550).

Tread carefully when giving the gift of alcohol.

Many companies forbid alcohol on the premises, so it’s a good idea to do your gift reconnaissance well in advance if you’re considering giving alcohol. That’s what Andrea Michalek, a technology management consultant of Harleysville, Pa. did. “At one meeting, we were talking about wine tastings,” she recalls, “and through that conversation, I found out that giving wine as a gift wasn’t going to be a problem.” If you’d like to do an end run around wine policies but still tap into wine as a gift theme, consider these two options. You could buy the person a membership to the International Wine Institute (theiwi.org) in Chicago, where he can take part in wine appreciation classes. Memberships start at $125 annually. Or you could purchase spirits-related accessories, such as high-end stemware from Bottega Del Vino Crystal, which are hand-blown and made in Italy. A set of six Chardonnay glasses costs about $240. (Glasses are available through the Bottega del Vino restaurant in New York City: 212-223-3028.)

Making a donation to a good cause benefits everyone.

During these turbulent times of war, famine and natural disasters, focusing your business gift-giving on a good cause is sure to strike a positive chord with your clients and colleagues. For years, Integrated Research in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been making a donation to Heifer International—and saying so in its holiday greetings to its hundreds of Fortune 500 clients. “I believe in giving people opportunity to succeed in themselves,” says company president Tom Schneider, who supports Heifer’s efforts to provide indigent families worldwide with livestock, versus handouts of food only. If you want to give a tangible gift that benefits a good cause, you can send Green Mountain Coffee’s Heifer Hope Blend, which also benefits Heifer (heifer.com). Or you can follow Donna Childs’ lead. “Last year, we gave our clients hand-carved wood ornaments from Guinea, a French-speaking company in sub-Saharan Africa, where we’d done some work,” explains Childs, founder and CEO of Childs Capital, a New York City financial services firm that focuses on international economic development that helps to alleviate poverty. “I’d purchased these goods from the individual artisans in Guinea and brought back a suitcase full for my holiday giving.”

A gift certificate or a gift card is always a good fallback idea.

Elaine Bloom, a professional organizer in Maplewood, N.J., never wants to give her clients gifts that would cause clutter. Instead, she selects gift cards. Book lovers get bookstore gift cards, and car lovers get gift certificates for car washes. For a client who travels to Las Vegas or California often, why not surprise him with a gift card to Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants? These elegant gift cards are redeemable at eight upscale Puck restaurants, like Spago in Beverly Hills, Palo Alto, Maui and Las Vegas. (wolfgangpuck.com).

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leah ingram is a freelance writer in New Hope, Pa. Email Leah at editor@executivetravelmag.com.