I make foodie hampers for lots of family. Mulled wine sachets are very easy (I get the ingredients in bulk at the asian supermarket) - it involves cinnamon sticks, cloves, peppercorns, cardoman pods and star anise and I pop these all into squares of muslin (if I've found where I stashed it) or little cellophane bags. 3 sets of spices with 1 bottle of wine is fine, along with a few other bits and pieces.
I tend to make jams and chutnies during the year with fruit from the allotment. And mince meat gets started in late summer to mature (if I don't have any leftovers from previuos Christmas).
Flavoured vodkas, limoncello, sloe gin etc - which all take time to mature but not a lot else in terms of effort.
I like to make chocolates, if I have time. And bake cookies. But these are usually late Dec things - so they are time dependent.
I'd love to make small Christmas cakes - maybe this year I will. Or puddings.
I made a "Winter Waether Survival Hamper" for my mum last year. An ice scraper, de icer, survival blanket (tin foil thing), flask, emergency torch, warm socks (she's diabetic), choc (see previous), little bottle of handwash (the alcohol type not needing water), set of bin bags, little handwarmers (re-chargable type and 1 pack of 1 use only type), gloves, small packet of wipes, pocket pack of tissues...It seemed to go down well once my sis let her know what it was (I wasn't there but apparently she was bemused by the "random" collection of stuff - my sis figured it out though!).
I've done art and craft hampers for kids - packs of coloured paper and card, glue, pencils and crayons, different things to stick on (like feathers, lollipop sticks, felt shapes, pom poms etc from craft shops, and some plain clean pine cones etc to have fun with gathered from walks). Maybe some daft pencils from art gallery or science museum (like superlong bendy ones).
Handknitted face cloths (use cotton) with some nice soap and smelly stuff goes down well - like make a nice pale purple FC and use different types of lavendar stuff to fill hamper (soap, bath bubbles, candle...).
Or Coffee or hot choc hamper - nice mug, good coffee (eg starbucks do nice Christmas coffee blend) or hot choc mix, choclate stirrers (M&S, or choc covered plastic spoons), a nice treat to go with it (biscotti, chocs...), marshmallows and sprinkles for hot choc, etc.
Or nice tea mixes with a small teapot/cup set, strainer if loose leaf teas, and perhaps some nice biscuits to enjoy with it.
Bits and pieces for camping - get them at the end of summer when getting sold off for teens who are into scouting or camping with friends. Unbreakable crockery, small pocket knife (swiss army type - but bearing in mind recipient and parents, may need to check in advance), salt and papper set, small torch, waterproof pouch for maps, tinfoil type survival blanket, a trendy yoke for around neck that doubles as hairband/hat etc.....
Calendar that's a set of bookmarks (museums often have famous writer ones), with a nice clean journal to write in and a pen, book token - for someone interested in books and writing themselves.