Heh, some of that B&M canned bread (check Kroger) might do better than fruitcake.
As for reusable gifts, check out the BlastMatch fire starter. $30 or so, but dead simple to use. Do they have backpacks? If not, a milsurp ALICE pack can be had pretty cheap.
Thatsa very good idea about the bread. I wil check out Krogers tomorrow. I have used coghlans fire starter. Works great. Costs less although the Blastmatch is nice too.