HOT TIPS : GET BUSY WITH RELAXING FOR LONG WEEKEND.

Byline: Barbara De Witt 

Ah, the luxury of a three-day weekend. For most of us, Memorial Day affords an extra day to laze around the back yard on a chaise lounge and read trashy novels, work on our tube tans, or throw a few chicken kabobs on the barbecue. If that's your plan for the days ahead, read on. Miz Hot Tips has rounded up some new no-brainer products to fit your agenda.

Never cook alone: Ever notice how everybody gathers in the kitchen for a family dinner, but barbecuers rarely have company? The backyard chef has a lonely job, stoking the coals, flipping burgers and doubling as a smoke screen while guests slurp margaritas in the air-conditioned house. But all that may change, thanks to Playskool, which has created the Magic Smoking Grill, a toy barbecue for preschoolers that has realistic smoke and sizzling sounds. It's a plastic replica of a gas barbecue with tools and pretend burgers, hot dogs and shish kebabs. It's $39.99 at toy stores.

Beachward-bound: Swimsuit season officially begins this weekend and the look is retro: string bikinis, baggy briefs in Hawaiian prints and cartoon characters. For children, the newest collection of swimwear is Mickey's Stuff for Kids featuring Disney's Mickey and Minnie Mouse on quick-dry supplex nylon and Lycra bathing suits, inner-tubes, child-sized fishing equipment and sunglasses. Look for it at mass merchandisers like Kmart and Target, and children's clothing stores, priced at about $14 per suit.

A good read: Pool or surfside reading isn't supposed to be heavy, so leave those computer programming books and the classics at home and consider Miz Hot Tips' favorite fluff fodder, such as ``Strange Days 1: The Year in Weirdness'' (Cader Books/Andres and McMeel; $9.95), edited by Mike Dash and filled with real news bytes on everything from water monsters to UFO sightings to boys raised by dogs. Another biggie for lazy-day reading is ``The Man in the Red Velvet Dress: Inside the World of Cross Dressing'' (Birch Lane Press; $21.95), which explores everything from the bondage parlors of the underground sexual scene in L.A. to the intricacies of transsexual surgery. Author J.J. Allen, a longtime cross-dresser and past president of Powder Puffs of California, provides an insider's view of that world most of us have only seen in films like ``To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.'' The book gets a tad heavy, but there are plenty of great pictures.

For those who can't help themselves and read a book a day, add ``What's Your `Friends' I.Q.?'' (Citadel Press; $9.95) to your reading list. Author Stephen Spignesi has 501 trivia questions about the ``Friends'' TV show and its characters guaranteed to stump the best of fans. A quick read, it'll tell you what precious possession Phoebe's sister Ursula broke by throwing it under a bus, what Ross considers chick-bait, and how he got that monkey on his back.

Relax, indulge yourself: No wonder those movie stars and supermodels always look good. They spend hours at fancy spas getting rubbed with mud and seaweed, then get their faces and nails painted by experts. Miz Hot Tips doesn't have a handle on some incredibly wonderful but cheap spas, but Mineral Care's Natural Dead Sea Mud for $22 per treatment at drug and health-food stores can make you feel like you're getting the star treatment. To use, apply all over your body and relax for about 15 minutes, then wash off. For those inquiring minds who think mud baths are for pigs and ducks only, try it. It makes your skin feel really clean and energized.

Afterward, try rubbing Hoof Manicure cream on your feet, as well as your face and fingers, to make them softer. The newest product from shampoo guru Jheri Redding, it's priced at $3.99 for a 2-ounce jar at horse and pet stores or by calling [phone]. The magic ingredients include peach kernel oil, alpha hydroxy acid, jojoba and sunflower oil.

Then paint your nails and top with Nail Essence's new fast-dry top coat, which has a cute little rosebud in the bottle. Gimmicks aside, the top coat dries quite hard in two minutes, Miz Hot Tips discovered, and doesn't have the

strong chemical smell of other top coats. It's alcohol-free, costs $4 and can be found at Target and Kmart as well as drug stores.

While you're at it, try that new blue eye-shadow fad all the fashion mags are promoting. A new one on the market is BeneFit's new Shell Shocked shadow. The little pot of creaseless eye shadow is $12 at Fred Segal in Santa Monica and department stores and the reason you'll like it is because it's very lightweight and creamy but stays put, unlike similar cream shadows.

MEMO: Hot Tips appears every Saturday. If you have a hot tip on a new product or place, write to Barbara De Witt, Daily News Features Department, P.O. Box 4200, Woodland Hills, Calif. 91365-4200.

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Photo: Mickey's Stuff for Kids includes a patriotic Minnieswimsuit ($14) and a Donald Duck inner tube ($5.99).