I too do the basket thing. I stock up all year round on sales and it makes things a lot cheaper but it makes it look like you spent a lot. I use diaper/wipe coupons, baby lotions/wash, little nail clippers, bibs, and I find some great deals at Baby Gap and so I have a pretty good stockpile of every size/season/gender, plus I hit the Carters Outlet for cute little jammies. Usually spend about $30 (probably worth about $70).
For bridal showers, I use Linen N Things/Bed, Bath, & Beyond coupons and just check out their Target (or wherever) registry. I will sometimes do a muffin basket (couple different muffin mixes, measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowl, mixing spoon, muffin tins in jumbo, regular, and mini size), pizza basket (pizza stone, pizza cutter, cheese shredder/grater, and leftover pizza keeper), movie night basket (box of microwave popcorn, big boxes of movie theater candy that they sell at walmart, a couple of DVD's, blockbuster gift cards, theater gift cards, and a snuggly fleece blanket), game night basket (a couple of board games, deck of cards, snacks), a picnic basket (filled with the fun plastic plates and cups they sell at Target in the summer, red and white checkered tablecloth, wine glasses, bottle of wine), a dishwashing basket (actually I use a dish drainer, put in some sponges, dish soap, gloves, embroidered floursack towels, one of those dawn powerbrush things, if I know they have a dishwasher they get some free electrosol
and jet dry, and my favorite part, a sexy little piece of lingere with a note stuck to it mentioning that this might get him to help with the dishes (I only do this for close friends!), the possibilities are really endless and if you shop ahead of time and get a lot of the stuff at say, Target's 90% clearance at the end of the summer you can save a ton of money. Everyone I have given these baskets to has commented on how fun and creative they have been compared to the normal gifts like a towel and washcloth set. I don't generally spend more than $30, depending on what basket I do.