I'm one of those arts and craftsy type people who always has fabric and paper and paint and wood and stuff like that hanging around the house, so handmade gifts (twirly skirts for my daughter, dollhouse furniture made from Sculpey) are not unusual with me.

If you're not a crafty person, some other ideas are:

"Gift Certificates/Coupons" Ideas--When he redeems the coupon, you'll cook his favorite meal even though it's not your favorite and you really hate making it. Or you'll take out the garbage for a week, even though that's his job. He could do a "I'll watch a chick-flick movie with you, even though I despise chick-flicks" type card. These are also good for kids to give, since it shows thoughtfulness, but doesn't cost them anything.

Cooking. A big batch of his favorite cookies wrapped up nicely with a cute photo card is usually not sneered at. We wanted to give an extra thank you to a dog sitter, but not pay her more than we already had, so I made a big batch of maple syrup candy for her. I don't think the batch lasted out the day :)

Plants. If you've a green thumb, take a few cuttings of some of your plants, root them, and then put them in reused/repurposed containers as gifts. I had an English ivy a few years back that made its way into quite a few of my friends' homes, usually in one of those plastic pots left over from planting the yearly garden.

Make a music mix. Granted, this isn't as cool as it was back before MP3 players did all the work for you. But if you take the time to pick out meaningful songs, maybe tell a story with them, it's still a fun gift idea.

We also do a lot of "regifting" in our family. When we're given gifts that we really won't use/don't like, we save them--unused, of course--and give them to someone else later on. Though this type of gift doesn't work for the immediate family, since they know you already had it.

That's all I can think of right now. Hope it helps. I'll add in any more that pop up :)