We ran into the same thing years ago. The “big brother” turned out to be my one of my son’s greatest friends, in fact the same friend that he rescued went way out of his way last year, just to attend my son’s college graduation.
The way that I made it through the plethora of birthday party gifts, but was able to find something nice, was to watch for the Michael’s 40% off coupons in the paper or the mail and then go buy a stockpile of Klutz books with them. The gifts were always well received and I always had something on hand, rather than having to go hunt for something at the last minute.
The kids (and their teachers) also seemed to appreciate rubber stamps and kits, also available at Michaels. cprevite also had some great examples!