Would this game/program be interesting to him, or is it too low-level for him? http://primerlabs.com/codehero0

Start here: http://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/

You may want to go with things that are game-related than necessarily development related for the reason frob suggested. If my wife picked out game development books I'd probably be pretty underwhelmed unless I asked for specific titles. Most of the time it's easier to dig through code samples and online resources anyway.

If he's a redditor.. http://www.shapeways.com/model/736420/success-kid.html
Slightly more for a Ghostbusters Proton Backpack - http://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/ghostbusters-proton-backpack-prop

If he liked the meatboy series, the wife of Edmund Mcmillen used to do video casts at their house and he was in them too.
He might like a link to their site to watch as a side gift. I used to hang out on their casts because they were funny, especially the karaoke lol (a karaoke highlight http://www.twitch.tv/danielleorama/b/329164176) Both of them were quite candid and one time he showed off his collection of toys so the videos might still be there for those things.
http://www.twitch.tv...lleorama/videos
If they do start casting again, that's probably where you would find them.
This is her twitter.
https://twitter.com/danielleorama

I would make a mix of different objects, like books, miniatures of important videogame characters, a cool videogame collector edition, posters and also "gamedev" music, I mean probably ambience music for relaxing the mind during programming.