Not usually. 1) I suck at buying useful gifts for people.
2) I don't want to waste money on something that people are just going to throw away, like when I get 4 calendars for Christmas. I really don't even need one.
3) If I do get a useful gift, it's probably something boring. One year, after my sister's "quick" battery charger killed 3 NiMH AAs, I bought her a nice Maha 401FS charger (4 independent channels) and some Eneloop AAs. That was a birthday present though. Sure, she uses them, and the Eneloops don't go dead if her digital camera sits for a few weeks unused, but it's not really a "fun" present.
Gifts for me......my parents kind of gave up several years ago and just give me cash. If I would ask for something, it would be so specific that I might as well just buy it myself, since they wouldn't know what to look for.
16V 1000uF capacitor
100k 1/4W resistors
2N3904 transistors
.......
or some specific computer component. They figured it would be easier to let me buy what I wanted. I didn't complain.
Money: It's like a gift card, only better. It has no set expiration date (besides what inflation does to it), and it's usable at any store.
They don't usually ask for anything in return, since more
stuff is just more clutter laying around the house. Nowadays, it's more like, "Call home and send a picture."