We went a little overboard, money-wise, this year.
Our city's hockey team got new "alternate" home sweaters (if you're not a hockey fan - it's basically a secondary home uniform that they wear several times a season instead of their usual one) and we like them MUCH better than their usual home sweater.
So we ordered them in Sept. & plan to give them to each other for Christmas. If they're delivered in time, lol. They were something like $160 apiece. :/
(My justification is that for several years we didn't do much for each other at all at Christmas, so we might as well spend a little this year since we can afford it. I can rationalize pretty much anything...
)
I like mumofone's idea - I think maybe next year we'll try something like that. It sounds like a lot of fun to be creative on a budget (hell, it's what I do with everyone else we buy for, so why not do something like that between us, lol).