Angel Tree TikToks Are Going Viral, Some For Wonderful Reasons & Others For Being “Deplorable” Grinches

‘Tis the season of giving, and knowing how difficult these times are for so many families financially, it feels more important than ever to be generous with our money and our time wherever we can. If you’ve been on TikTok at all in the past week, you’ve probably caught wind of the angel tree drama. If you are not chronically online, let’s catch you up: A woman and her husband filmed themselves shopping at Target for a girl whose Christmas list was left on the angel tree at the store. Sounds great, right? Well, the way she went about it was questionable, and she basically got run off of TikTok altogether.

In a video originally posted by user @itscookiedoughh, the creator and her husband hit the aisles to find a Baby Alive and some Barbies from the little girl’s angel tree list. The angel tree organization said to spend at least $30, she says at the start of the video, but she adopts that number as her budget instead of the minimum.

When confronted with specific toys, like a Baby Alive Snuggle Sophia, she doesn’t bother to Google what they are, just opts not to buy them and sticks to the more generic baby dolls and clothes from Target’s store brand. The comments were so rough that she deleted her original video (and later her entire TikTok account), but the creator made a follow-up video... in which she doubled down.

“They would be grateful for anything. You guys are like, ‘They probably get off-brand stuff all the time. This is their one time a year to get stuff.’ OK, that’s great. At the end of the day, they’re gonna be grateful for what they have, and if they’re not, that’s on them and their upbringing,” she said to the camera.

She goes on to say she grew up poor and has lived through having the electricity turned off, but it seems that instead of letting that situation make her softer, she expects other children to muscle through and toughen up. The user who stitched her video here goes on to call her “deplorable” and point out that for children in poverty, Christmas is the one time a year they’re allowed to wish, to ask and hope for something they want and not something they need.

Commenters agreed, saying if you don’t have money to get the children what they truly want, leave the list for someone else who will.

For a study in how to do angel trees so, so right, let us turn our attention to @serenaneel, who is going viral for her generosity this year. In her most popular video, she finds a child’s wishlist on an angel tree that says his dog passed away, and he really wants a calico kitten for Christmas. She got in touch with the child’s parents to confirm a real live cat was indeed OK to get, and then she headed straight to the animal shelter.

Neel takes us with her to buy everything the cat will need, from food and litter to toys and a carrier, plus a $200 Petco gift card for its future needs. The best part of Serena’s angel tree videos is her spirit — it’s clear she’s enjoying finding the cutest clothes and shoes and toys that these kids really want. She’s thinking about them and what they want, not just what they need and what’s on their list.

Commenters were quick to call out the difference. “THIS. IS. HOW. YOU. DO. ANGEL. TREE!!!!!! Someone send this to that lady complaining about the girl's gift list and barely spending any money on the angel tree kids SHE PICKED OUT,” wrote one. “She got her angel tree a cat and even the cat got gifts! The gifts got gifts!” another said. And one that really got me by the heart strings: “You’re literally building a story a grown adult is going to tell for the rest of his life, he will never forget this.”

The internet isn’t always so black and white, but the case of the angel trees seems to be very clear-cut: Get kids what they actually want off their list, or leave the list for someone who will. And if you have the power to make a wish come true, you could be creating a Christmas that child remembers forever.