Woman Shares Gifts She Bought for Her Angel Tree Kid — and Her Purchases Cause Uproar on TikTok (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Shay Jackson haul of Angel Tree gifts.Photo:Shay Jackson (3)

Shay Jackson (3)

A woman’s Angel Tree Christmas haul is sparking debate online, with many questioning whether she truly fulfilled the child’s wishes.

“I got a lot of mixed reviews on the Stanley and the soup,” Jackson, 27, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “Folks said I should have bought the large-sized Stanley with the handle, and others said she meant to say ‘phone,’ not ‘pho.’ "

However, she decided to go through with the purchases because she didn’t want the 10-year-old to go unchosen and end up with nothing.

“I did not have as long to get her gifts as I would have hoped,” Jackson says. “I went shopping for her with my boyfriend and roommate, and they helped me pick out a lot of the items. I spent around $150 at Target getting her clothes, accessories and shoes.”

“I realized the items she ‘needed’ were the most important, so I spent the majority of my time and resources on the clothing items,” she adds. “I made this my biggest investment and put a lot of thought into it, hoping she could create several different outfits with the pieces I purchased.”

“For her wishes, I wanted to make sure I got everything I could, but there was limited time given the deadline,” she continues. “So, I ordered the Stanley, backpack and pho off of Amazon for around $45 total (and luckily, they came extremely quickly). My all-in cost was around $200.”

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Shay Jackson snaps photo of clothing for Angel Tree child.Shay Jackson

Shay Jackson

For Jackson, who used to work at a nonprofit, gift-giving is her love language. She says she has so much fun shopping for others and curating the perfect presents. She originally thought making a video with a haul for TikTok was a good way to encourage others to get involved in giving back.

She continues, “I feared my video had landed on the wrong side of TikTok, and I was getting so much hate that I had to stop looking at my notifications. However, I tried to use this as an opportunity to encourage others to give back this holiday season, especially if they disagreed with the way I did it. I told them to use this as motivation to go out and do better than I did.”

Shay Jackson takes photo of Angel Tree wish list.Shay Jackson

Looking back, Jackson says she’s confident that she did the best she could, given the time crunch and limited details. However, if she could go back, she would have gotten two Stanley cups to ensure she had the trendy one and one that would be good for school.

source: people.com