A good gift is just proof you were paying attention. That's the whole thing. The price is almost irrelevant; the specificity is everything.
The scented candle fails not because it's cheap but because it's a shrug — it says “I know you have a nose.” A gift should say “I know you.”
Objects are good at this when they're specific enough. The person who hates clutter gets the quietest wall plate. The one who hosts gets the coasters and the game. The one who has everything gets something gloriously unnecessary.
We built the whole Gift Guide around exactly that — sorted by the person, not the price bracket. Start there. Or, when truly stuck: the X + O board. Nobody owns one.