Some events call for multiples of gifts, whether as a thank you for coming or as part of the event itself. In general, consumables are a good idea, although if it's food you do need to be considerate of allergies and other dietary restrictions. If you're aiming for more of a keepsake, small is best. You'll need to take into consideration your budget, your audience, and your time.
CONSUMABLES
I have literally dozens of aunts, uncles, and cousins, and I see many of them during the holidays. Buying them all individual gifts would bankrupt me, and making the same by hand would take all year (not to mention the cost of supplies). Instead, I bake three or four varieties of cookies, double or triple batches of each. Each family gets a bag of cookies from me without my needing to take out a loan or spend more than part of a few days baking. Some of them give bags of their own homemade cookies, breads, candies, or jams. Other people I know make vanilla extract (this takes a few months; plan ahead), brownies, fudge, snack mixes, home-brewed beer or other alcohol, small cakes, applesauce, nut butters, spaghetti sauce, spice mixes, home-roasted coffee beans, and even honey from their beehives. You can also put together dry ingredients for baked goods. And of course, there are myriad store bought food treats, often ones made locally.
You do have to be mindful of dietary restrictions. For example, one of my cousins is allergic to peanuts, so I don't add peanuts to any cookies and I don't make peanut butter cookies (for her, other nuts are fine so I can still use almond extract or other nuts). If you don't know the recipients well, in the case of an office party for example, food might not be best. You also need to be sure whatever you give will be okay without refrigeration for at least a few hours. One way around potential food restrictions for a crowd is something like a candy bar. When my brother got married, the wedding favors were organza bags we could fill with our choice of a variety of his and my sister-in-law's favorite candies. At a different wedding, the candy bar was every kind of blue candy the bride and groom could find, as the wedding colors were navy and sky blue. Both times the treats were great for the plane ride home.
Some events give away plants and seeds. While not quite consumable, these are fun for those who have the space to grow them. They're also easy to tailor to the occasion: pots painted in seasonal colors, some of the same flowers as in the wedding bouquets, plants that represent the occasion, that sort of thing.
Other consumables include candles, soap, lotion, sugar scrubs, lip balm, and stationery. As with food gifts, any of these can be store bought or handmade, and you need to be aware of allergies. They don't need to be fancy either, especially if your recipients are more practical. Some years my grandparents have given us simple toiletries like shampoo and shaving cream (with some cash, being grandparents) and it always gets used.
GIFT CARDS
If you have the budget, gift cards in $5-10 denominations are good. The standard is coffee shops, but you don't need to limit yourselves to that. Bakeries, specialty grocery stores, online music services, ice cream stores--as long as your recipients can actually get something for $5 or $10, it can work. One Christmas, a cousin of mine passed out Redbox gift cards with packets of microwave popcorn.
If you know your recipients would appreciate donations given in their names, you can also pass out notes acknowledging such. One wedding I attended recently had notecards at each table setting stating that in lieu of wedding favors the bride and groom, who had both lost their mothers to cancer, had made a donation to the American Cancer Society. Especially with as extravagant as the wedding and reception was, I thought the donation was far more touching than wedding favor to take home.
KEEPSAKES AND TOKENS
There are a variety of choices for small gifts, some better than others. The issue with gifts meant to be kept is that it's impossible to cater to everyone's tastes. With consumables, people who get something they don't like don't feel as obligated to keep it.
Christmas ornaments are an obvious choice for Christmas parties, and most people aren't too selective about what goes on their trees. Other decorative or household items can be more versatile, like prisms or sun catchers, paper weights, drink coasters, fridge magnets, pins, kitchen accessories, and knick-knacks. Some of these can be handmade, like knit washcloths, sewn hot pads, etched glass coasters, and so on.
If the event is for a specific activity, it's easier to pick out an appropriate favor. For example, a sewing club party could pass out sewing notions; a garden club might give away plant starts.
For kids' birthday parties, the usual fare seems to be a bag of small plastic toys. I'm not a fan of those myself, as my kids have too many of those already. Goody bags we've found easier to enjoy include more useful items like pencils or other school supplies, a single larger toy, treats like a few cookies or some candy from a piñata, or things that get used up like bubbles and stickers. But don't feel limited to those; feel free to be creative. My brother's birthday is Halloween, so every year his party guests would trick-or-treat. Our parents figured the kids didn't need more candy, especially since they also got birthday cake...so the party favors were toothbrushes and floss!
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