What's In a Gift?
A meaningful gift is one that comes from the heart, and of course doesn't have to be an item. Once my young sons gave their Dad and I a little book of coupons they'd made. Each one was worth something different - like "this entitles you to one day of me not smarting off" or "this coupon is worth one hand massage, left or right". An especially good one was that Mom and Dad weren't going to hear an argument about anything all day long (including with his brother - unless his brother provoked one).
When someone is moving, a gift I've enjoyed giving is going to a card shop and picking out an assortment of cards, covering everything from "thank you", "anniversary", "I love you", etc. I try to find the most unique ones possible, and then put them in an unusual container. I've used antique cookie tins, pretty stationary boxes I've saved, large envelopes made from wallpaper scraps with sequins, pearls, broken pieces of jewelry, etc. glued on. I usually keep a "stash" of cards to use for spur of the moment gifts and decorate a brown envelope with stickers to put them in.
For people difficult to buy for (in my case, that's men), I like to go to thrift/antique shops. If they love a particular sport, an old golf club (my sons love these), footballs, posters, maps - there's always tons of "stuff" to choose from. It's fun to find something from the year the person was born, like a well-known magazine or newspaper or license plate. I buy old sheet music for a friend who's a pianist.
If I try to get inside the person's head, and think what they would enjoy, not me, I'm usually successful in finding "just the right thing".