I once started a campaign.
The PC's were 1st level and they all wanted to start with an heirloom magical item.
So I handed out things like a silver skull-cap shaped like a lettuce leaf with a incandescent light bulb on top (for one of our players, who was playing a character with mental stats that were higher across the board than his own), to another I gave an ever full snuff box, the only weapon I gave out was to a player who was whining for one, so he got a +1 long sword (the pommel of which took the shape of an ugly and deformed human head).
In play, the skullcap lit up when the character had an idea that the player didn't think of (but should have), the ever full snuff box remained...ever full, and the +1 long sword would scream "Hey, you guys!!!" (think Sloth, from The Goonies) every time that it detected danger (thus making the parties presence known to all well before they could get the drop on any of their enemies).