One thing is certain - everybody can use something! Don’t overlook the useful gift idea genre... The category of practical gifts covers the creative as well as the ordinary (but needed). Look to the Instructions section for the asterisked items...
  

• Pincushions - possibilities: in the shape of a fan, with embroidery; in the shape of a mouse, or a strawberry, or an acorn; inside a little basket, or between cockle shells; a little pillow decorated with ribbon, buttons, charms; a tiny bag with a little square of needlepoint sewn into one side; a little cushion surrounded by beads or trouble dolls; on the top of a small fabric-covered box

• Pierced paper lampshades (if you don’t want to make the paper shade yourself with an elaborate piercing design, you can also glue onto a store-bought stiff lampshade flowers cut from fabric, and just pierce little holes all around the edges of the flowers)

• Towel racks made from smoothed-down but still-barked branches

• Bamboo towel racks
    
• Give a selection of homemade gift bags (e.g., stamped or stenciled paper or painted fabric) or pre-decorated gift boxes (e.g., with ribbon-flowered lids)
    
• A monogram stamp and ink pad (with plain gift tags to be stamped?)

• Potholders made from bandanas (perhaps in heart shapes)

• Tiny coiled "rugs" to use as trivets
    
• A monogram corkboard - the giftee's initial cut large from a thin plywood or foam board base with a layer of roll cork on top (you can glue ribbon around the sides to hide the edges)
    
• A cash/jewelry safe made from a large hollowed-out pillar candle
    
• Pre-paid photo developing envelopes

• Sachets - bits of fabric wrapped around your choice of scented stuffing, tied with ribbon; made from pretty handkerchiefs; long and narrow, made or wide ribbon - for folding into linens; netting (in two layers) bags filled with dried orange/lemon peel, etc., tied with enough ribbon to also tie onto the closet rail
    
• Spine massager - made by tying knots snugly on either side of two tennis balls stuffed into the middle of a woman’s nylon leg (roll it along the spine against a wall or mattress)

• A great kid’s nightlight can be made from a shiny, colorful pinwheel - with a small light bulb hidden inside

• A lounging pad made of two long panels of 36"-wide fabric sewn together in several to-be-stuffed (with a mixture of shredded foam and polystyrene pellets) baffles about a foot wide (and separated from each other by seams about 21/2" apart - which allow the thing to be folded into whatever sofa or chair shape moves one) - the whole thing can even be hung from the wall by loops at one end

• Hobby dolls - fabric dolls festooned with artists’ or seamstresses’ (or seamsters’) tools/supplies (e.g., brushes attach to one wrist with elastic, a packet of crayons fits into a purse attached to the other wrist, tubes of paints fit into pocket slots along the hem of a girl doll’s dress; or... a boy doll with a pincushion at one wrist, a tape measure at the other, scissors stuck into loops sewn onto his front, and a string of thread spools around his neck)

• Cloth or string shopping bags, or muslin refrigerator bags for veggies

• A zippered fabric knitting needle and/or crochet hook organizing case

• Pine cone fire starters - dip the lower halves in melted wax (clear or colored)
    
• A basket tray, the bottom  lined with a favorite map under glass you have cut to fit

• Fire starter pretzels - roll 2-3 sheets of newspaper tightly and form into a knot (several are needed for each fire)

• Crocheted tough twine log carriers (with wooden handles?)

• A travel sewing kit in a film canister

• Assorted light bulbs! (fluorescent, incandescent, appliance, flashlight, etc.)

• Food dehydrator

• A solar cooker ("sun oven")

• Assorted picture frames painted all one color

• Fabric bookcovers

• A beautiful broom or laundry basket! (I have one of each - both gifts; and they make a huge difference in my ability to enjoy sweeping and doing laundry!)

• A crescent moon-shaped plywood cradle - sandwich a baby mattress-sized box in between two giant, identical crescent moons (don’t forget the nose part! - but make it fairly blunt; paint on a closed eyelid, brow, a cheek line, and a sleepy smile) that sit on the floor... and rock

• Similarly rocking "chairs" in the shape of an animal

• Terry cloth bath scrubber mitts for kids... in the shapes of animal puppets

• A folding sawbuck

• Aloe vera plants (for burns) or spider plants (suck up air-borne toxins)

• Ingenious office supplies

• First aid supplies/kit

• Tape! (cellophane, duct, plumber’s, electrical, audio, visual, etc.)

• A moving kit: box tape and cutter, markers, a tape measure, a multi (screw) driver, extension cords, light bulbs, a flashlight with batteries, paper plates and plastic cutlery?

• Child’s first sewing supplies

• Child’s first real tools

• Cool tools

• Bucket handles - 4" lengths of sturdy garden hose, slit lengthwise to slip over a wire bucket handle

• Saw blade guard - a length of stiff rubber hose cut to fit the saw, slit lengthwise to cover the blade

• Glove tool holder**

• Pegboard and tool hangers

• Pieces of chalk in a net bag - to put in a toolbox to keep tools from rusting (the chalk absorbs the moisture - dry out in the sun; for that matter, so does kitty litter!)

• Assorted nuts, bolts, screws, washers, etc. (and sorters?)

• Small sanders - glue sandpaper strips to the ends of popsicle sticks/ tongue depressors

• Sponges to keep produce fresh - place a couple in each produce drawer, moistened heavily

• Produce bags - cotton (i.e., muslin, or sewn-together waffle-weave tea towels) bags for mushrooms (dry) or lettuce, celery, etc. (to be kept dampened in the produce drawer)

• Fabric shoe bags for travelers

• Sleeping bag liner sheets

• Empty plastic "honey bears" (containers that honey comes in - well, you can give the honey too!) - for use as dispensers for dish soap, cooking oil, laundry pre-treater, salad dressing, mayo, shampoo, etc.

• Drinking straws - for someone who loves to fill vases with flowers... put short stems into a straw each for tall vases

• A blackboard eraser - for dry-wiping just-cleaned windows to remove streaks

• Pink rubber erasers - to glue to the bottom of a large picture frame so it hangs straight and won’t mar the wall
    
• Soft cotton gloves - for cleaning Venetian blinds (spray gloves with furniture polish first)

• Colored folders (especially, folders with kids’ drawings on them!)

• Baby blanket rag rug or bath mat**

• Stuffed animal safe - remove some stuffing via a hole in the bottom of the stuffed toy animal... sew in a fabric pocket and create a velcro closure

• Old drawers, with casters added to the bottoms - for under-bed or under-workbench storage

• A mushroom garden in an old drawer
    
• Quilts made from shrunken wool blankets - nice and warm!