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

• When Shay Jackson first pulled an Angel Tree tag for a 10-year-old girl, she was slightly confused by some of the girl's requests, which included a $150 backpack, a Stanley Cup and pho

• After buying the items, Jackson posted a haul on TikTok, with comments questioning whether the 27-year-old truly fulfilled the child's wishes

• Speaking to PEOPLE, Jackson says she stands by her purchases and hopes to inspire others to become an Angle Tree donor

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

In a TikTok video, event planner Shay Jackson, who goes by @shayjay on social media, shows off the items she bought for her Angel Tree child. The Angel Tree program, run by the Salvation Army, allows donors to register and provide new clothing or toys for children from families with needs during the holidays.

Jackson explains in the video that her Angel Tree child is a 10-year-old girl named Ivanna. Some of the items on Ivanna’s Christmas list included clothes, a Stanley cup, a $150 Sprayground backpack and pho. But after posting what she bought on TikTok — which included a $20 backpack from Amazon, clothing from Target and a pack of pho soup — the video went viral, amassing more than 9.4 million views and 7,000 comments.

"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.' "

"I still stand by both of my decisions because the Stanley I purchased is leak-proof, and I would never buy a 10-year-old a phone without permission from their parents," the West Palm Beach, Fla., local adds. "At the end of the day, I tried my best given very vague information, and I am okay with that."

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Speaking to PEOPLE exclusively, Jackson explains how, when she first pulled her Angel Tree tag, she was slightly confused by some of the girl's requests. For instance, she didn't know what a Sprayground backpack was, and was unsure what the child meant by "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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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.

"There are so many ways to give back and it can be such a fun thing to do," she says. "Find a cause near and dear to your heart and research how you can support them! If you don’t have the money, you can give your time. And if you don’t have much time, you can support them by sharing about their mission to others and through social media!"

But after posting and noticing all of the negative comments, she was stunned, and decided to share an apology video, which also went viral, amassing 7.9 million views and 2,400 comments.

"I did not expect this video to go viral at all," Jackson admits. "I truly thought I would get 200 views and a comment from my mom. When it started blowing up, I got so much anxiety because it wasn’t all kind and positive comments at first."

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."

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.

"Please remember that spending your time, effort, and money on a child in need is an incredible thing to do, especially around the holidays when life can get pretty expensive," she adds. "Don’t overthink too much and don’t look at comments on the Internet. You are making a difference in a child’s life, and that’s amazing!"

"I will not let the negative comments deter me from giving back in any way I can," she adds. "If everyone commenting something negative on my TikTok would donate to a local nonprofit, we could’ve raised thousands."

Read the original article on People