My LO is just about exactly a year older than yours, it is pretty brutal having xmas so soon after their birthdays! In the last year, the gifts (from last year) that my LO has played with most are:
* An indoor tent (basically just some poles with a fabric cover - he loves going inside there. When he was two he would just sit in there saying 'In a house! in a house!' He still loves it but now uses it for imaginative play, takes his teddies/animals in etc).
* wooden train set - he loved it at 2 but loves it even more at nearly 3.
* A small helicopter and plane toy. They don't 'do' anything, but he still loves making them 'fly' and has done the whole year.
* A little tin tub full of small plastic animals. First he was learning their names, now he does imaginative play with them (sheep is mummy, dog is daddy, pig is baby, they go to the park etc).
Don't know if you're crafty at all but he also LOVES a knitted snake I made for him, basically just a long tube of stripy knitted fabric with buttons for eyes and a felt forked tongue. You could easily make something similar store-bought fabric.