* Get a buddy. Whether it's an exercise buddy or a holiday feast buddy - someone who agrees to help you watch what you eat - it's a good idea to enlist help in any plan to reduce the impacts of stress.

* Be kind. Start a holiday tradition where everyone writes something nice about someone else at the holiday table and places the note under the person's plate. Just make sure everyone gets a note.

* Think rentals. Get a holiday movie and watch it at home as a family. The cost and time involved in taking the family to the movies can be stressful by itself.

* Think stocking stuffers. Gift cards and gift certificates for spa treatments can be low-stress and stress-relieving gift alternatives.

* Raid the closet. Go through the house and find items of clothing or toys that are in good condition but that aren't used anymore. Donate them to charity.

* Reach out. As a family, call a friend nobody has touched base with in a while to give holiday greetings.

* Go potluck. Invite friends and family to a dinner where everyone brings a different dish.

* Be silly. "When I was in graduate school, a bunch of us had a tradition where we got together, and we each brought - gift-wrapped - the most obnoxious, tacky present we ever got, and we had a tacky present exchange," said Dr. LeslieBeth Wish.

* Simple things up. As a family, draw names from a hat and buy a gift for that person. Set a price limit.

* Skip the gifts. As a family, pool all the money you'd have spent on gifts and go somewhere together.

Source: Dr. LeslieBeth Wish, social worker, psychologist and frequent contributor to the National Association of Social Workers' consumer Web site, helpstartshere.org.