Prior to kindergarten we always did something homemade - a pack of crayons 'you color me happy', a pack of tic race (you make my heart tick'), for the infant year I picked up a package of board books (my heart reads for you), or the squeeze applesauce (you are my main squeeze)...
Once they hit elementary school, they just picked up a package from Target...when we were there last week they had tons of choices that had no candy...pencils, window clings, foam fingers, cards that turn into the football field goal game, the pencil drawing things mentioned earlier...my DS also really likes the scratch and sniff ones!