If you don’t need to worry about old browsers, use pseudo-classes :first-childalso :last-childin list items, for example:
.menu ul li:first-child a {}
.menu ul li:last-child a {}
CSS3 :last-child , , last, ( ):
<ul>
<li class="first"><a href="#">HOME</a></li>
<li><a href="#">LINK</a></li>
<li><a href="#">LINK</a></li>
<li><a href="#">LINK</a></li>
<li class="last"><a href="#">LINK</a></li>
</ul>
:
.menu ul li.first a {}
.menu ul li.last a {}