LB – actually, my point was that you can get away with giving something small, cheap, and nebby if it fits some kind of theme, like in RY’s example above where all they gave was hard candies. It would be much harder to just give someone hard candies for mishloach manos if it didn’t fit a theme.
I think the ideal is to give mishloach manos to a lot of people but to try not to spend too much money on each one. If you do something cute, it’s easier to get away with small and cheap.
The point of mishloach manos is to increase rayus (friendship). It shouldn’t be the size or quality of the gift but the thought behind it.