What type of items make good gifts from/for casual friends?

This question is prompted by this one.

Gift-giving situations often arise where you are motivated to give a gift to someone whom you don’t know too well, but need to give a token or remembrance of the occasion. You don’t want to spend a lot of money, say under $20. What types of gifts are successful?

This poses a challenge for me, and my choice tends to be a plant, stationery, cookbook, food item, or something practical, like a kitchen gadget.