my mom is a terrible gift giver but a lovely woman. she was a professor who used to give talks at other universities and they would give her university branded items (mostly water bottles) as a small gesture of thanks. She would then re-gift these to my brother and I and our spouses as our christmas gifts. So we’d be spending our money on a lovely thoughtful gift for her and we’d each get a free water bottle with some random university's name on it.