This may be controversial but I think money is the best gift. With money one can purchase whatever one wants. From my experience I rarely got what I want when I received a gift.
No amount of money in the world could have caused that picture to exist.
So from that perspective, decent gifts are exactly those that you would like to have but in an ordinary situation would not buy; like something that's nice instead of the "best price/performance" option that you might buy otherwise if you'd have the cash, something a bit extraordinary (even if it's a small thing) for the celebration.
Giving money is basically completely giving up on the curation part, which makes the gift extremely impersonal. It's marginally better than a very bad gift, but to me it would not qualify as a good gift in any case
If you are not searching for the semantics of the gift you received, then you may be missing out on the most important part of the gift.
...that said, I think the best gifts are still consumable so that they do not burden the gift receiver, and/or are handmade or cleverly devised by the giver.
Perhaps ask the opinion of others in a similar situation first?
There are a lot of overtones to money, perceived status signalling being an ugly one. I have more than one friend that really needs money, but they would definitely feel hurt if I did the simplest thing and just gave them money, so I have to be more creative to find ways to help that are joyful.