Talk Amongst Yourselves: The Tooth Fairy

I'm just curious: how much does The Tooth Fairy pay when she stops by your house?  I'd tell you about ours first, but I suspect she's way stingier than yours, and, well, I don't want to look like an idiot. 

Comments

[Little Miss Sew N Sew]

If it were up to me, the Tooth Fairy would only leave a quarter - fifty cents if it was a molar or something fabulous. However, with inflation, my granddaughter gets a couple dollars for a tooth. Often it's just a dollar, though. Certainly not five, ten, or twenty. That's just silly - and wrong.

[Mama Bear]

When I was wee, my siblings and I received a quarter.

Even with inflation, I'll continue that tradition with my baby, when he starts losing teeth.

:)

[Jeana]

She used to leave foreign coins because she thought the kids would think it was cool and they did the first few times, but then they got over it and wished she would leave "real money" next time so now she leaves one dollar.

[Jane]

I don't have kids yet, but I got a dollar for my first tooth and a quarter there after. I think there was a note about the first tooth being the most valuable. I think a Golden Dollar coin would be a very special treat.

[Sue]

Our tooth fairy leaves one dollar (in quarters). Much more than that and I think the kids would start knocking on their own teeth with little hammers. They're kind of mercenary that way.

[Angel]

We used to get a piece of silver (usually a silver coin). Wasn't that what was meant to be exchanged for? I can't remember =) it was years ago! My children don't receive anything at all. I tell them their tooth is taken and placed in the sky and it becomes a star at night time. Stingy? Maybe, but I love to see their faces when they point out which is 'their star'.

[Smellyann]

Ours haven't lost any teeth yet, but I plan to give about 50c - $1 for a 'good tooth' and half of that for one with a cavity!

[Jill]

Our tooth fairy leaves a dollar (a couple of teeth that had to be extracted by the dentist warranted a bit more due to the pain involved), and always leaves a wee little note, telling about her home and how she gets the teeth home, what she does with the teeth, etc. The note is about 2" X 2" square.

[Robin]

I actually did a WFMW about this a while back. We have a very creative tooth fairy. Long before my oldest lost his first tooth, we explained that the tooth fairy brings whatever *she* wants - sometimes a bit of money, sometimes a small gift, but always something small, *because teeth are small*. Saves mom, err, I mean the tooth fairy, from having to make sure she has the right amount of money on hand whenever a tooth is loose, keeps expectations modest, and leads to lots of guessing over what she'll bring next ;-).

[Philippa]

The toothfairy recently upped her rates here from 50p to £1. She gave $1 in the US which the kids quickly worked out was not a good rate of exchange! She writes little letters sometimes with fairy dust, but usually to explain why she forgot to collect the tooth the night before!

[kelli]

We always left a special note asking that she leave the tooth. For some weird reason, my kids couldn't bear to part with a single tooth. After explaining that this may reduce the price left (Stardust comes from baby teeth. We were partially responsible for a stardust shortage by holding back, dontcha know), they had no problem getting a quarter instead of the dollar per tooth their frineds were getting.

We didn't like to think we were cheap.

We were teaching an early economics lesson.

Yeah. That's it.

[Crissy]

For DS's first tooth the absolute only cash DH had on him was a $5 bill so that's what DS got. For every other typical tooth it's usually $1, though the one and only time he had to have one pulled at the dentist DH left him $5 again.

I would love to leave a .50 cent piece or silver dollar instead but it's just one of those things we never got around to going to the bank for and, therefore, never had on hand.

[Trixie]

This reminds me of a cute story.

A friend of mine put a very generous $10 bill under her son's pillow for his first tooth.

A few months later when the second tooth fell out he asked his mom if the Tooth Fairy was going to hook him up with $10 again. Apparently he thought that was the going rate for all teeth!

Take Care,

Trixie

[Kristenkj]

Funny you should ask, my daughter's tooth is hanging by a thread. It's been that way for weeks and I just want to yank it out!

We gave her 6 quarters for her first tooth, since she was six years old, and it was her very first tooth. Plus it was rather traumatic for her. She didn't like the blood part. For the remainder of the teeth she loses, she'll get one dollar in quarters.

[Elizabeth]

We've always done the golden dollar coin. We keep it pretty simple that way...

[Mommy]

We have done one dollar. It is easier to sneak a dollar bill under the pillow than coins.

[chocolatechic]

The tooth fairy paid .25 for each tooth lost.....unnnnnless it had a filling in it.

If the tooth had a filling in it, the tooth fairy paid a nickel.

[Gettysburg Mom]

Here in Southcentral PA, the tooth fairy leaves $1.00 per tooth. What I'm wondering is what other parents, er- tooth fairies- do with the actual teeth? I -er, the tooth fairy- doesn't want to harbor a creepy collection of little teeth, but feel odd just pitching them in the garbage. Any ideas out there?

[Carolyn F]

$1 per tooth. I did pay double for the teeth the dentist had to extract.

[Misslionheart♥]

I think our Tooth Fairy is a little over-generous. She pays 2euro per tooth. The teeth are always baby teeth with no cavities, though..

Too late to change her rates now!

[Julie]

Tooth Fairy leaves $1 per tooth here. But if there is some trauma involved (having the tooth pulled, for instance), she leaves $5.

[Amy]

Our tooth fairy leaves a one dollar coin- one of the new Presidential ones. My daughter hides them in her "treasure box". :)

I always got a 50 cent piece as a kid and I still have them!

[Edi]

It all depends. When my dd lost her first tooth I found the cutest candy at a Mennonite store...it was shaped like a tooth I think - with little tooth shaped candies inside, plus some red "goo" candy on one side and some little "tweezers". Never seen anything like it before or since. That went under her pillow. Another time I found a book about someone going to the dentist or losing a tooth. Sometimes I leave some coins - but the most popular tooth fairy leavings is a homemade coupon for a DQ Blizzard. I think it was started as a "bribe" for the child to allow parental assistance in removing a tooth just hanging there. It worked and that has been the requested treat. I sometimes think my dd hastens her tooth along just to get the Blizzard.

[Mandy]

When my oldest lost her first tooth, the tooth fairy was having a super rough day and forgot to get change. She has just moved into her new house and didn't have a change jar or anything! She decided to leave $20 w/ a note and a YOM (you owe me). It said "I know it's exciting to see $20 under your pillow. I had a busy, busy day (what w/ all those teeth to collect) and ran out of dollar bills. I'm going to leave this for you and you can have your parents make change. You can keep $5 (for all your trouble) and put $15 under the pillow and I'll pick it up tomorrow night."

Yeah - it didn't work. She said "Did you leave that note Mom? Trying to get my tooth money?"

She then calculated how much her mouth was worth. At that time she had 20 teeth and called her Papa to tell him that she would eventually get $400.

My Dad has been nice and sent the money a few times knowing that w/ 3 kids...it's gonna get expensive.

[Eileen]

$1.00 each time. The first time, she got not $, but a dollar store puzzle and a new toothbrush. One time she got a gift certificate for a movie rental.

I thought $1 was embarrassingly generous, until I heard someone remark, very off-handedly, that the tooth fairy left a $20, since it was a first tooth. Yikes!!!

We put her first tooth in a little packet in her baby treasure box. She hasn't cared what happened to the rest, but I feel guilty throwing them away!!! :)