What is a junk present?

With "junk" persents i mean those small (mostly useless) gifts like bears,ballpen,photoholders,clocks,ashtreys etc....
souvenirs mostly.
Maybe the term "junk" is not the best way to decribe them but i dunno another word for it (as my home language is not english)

Malek, consider yourself highly honoured, you are looked upon as someone very special to the young lady and her family.

Getting a present
 

Beeing many times to thailand i recieved a lot of those "junk" presents.
Now that not gonna be the topic, i wonder about some more unusual presents.
Last time i recieved a thai amulet with inside some kinda golden coin with the image of king rama 5.
Now there are a lot of those amulets around, but at the immigration at the airport, an immigration officer saw that
amulet and give me the comment that it was "something special" and very good.
Another thing i recieved was a home made sarong with a pakama.
Took the family some months to make said my GF.
Now somewhere i have the impression that such gifts have a deeper meaning. I think not everyone will recieve such gifts.
So my question: are they "just presents" ore have they a deeper,special,symbolic meaning maybe?