Thanks to a face plant in our cul-de-sac last week (bike accident) and near constant wiggling, Camber lost her first tooth.
Her gums were still bleeding when she started fantasizing about all of the toys she was going to purchase with her tooth fairy money.
"I'm going to be RICH!" she sang as she danced around the house. "I'm going to need a truck to haul all of my stuff home!"
His sister's anticipated wealth, coupled with the fact that he wasn't the center of attention was more than Cortlen could handle. He buried his face in his hands and began to cry.
"Go to your room if you're going to cry," I told the poor sport, "You're ruining Camber's special moment." With a loud wail, off he stomped.
By the time we turned back to our daughter, she was making a shopping list out of the Toys 'R Us circular.
"I want this and this and this and this," she chirped as she circled objects with a black sharpie.
My husband interrupted her imaginary shopping spree with the news that the tooth fairy was on a budget.
"But Melissa got a bike and Danielle got a Wii and Lucy got 18 horseback riding lessons and Olivia got an I-Pod that you can watch movies on!"
Our daughter's precise accounting of the tooth fairy's generosity to her classmates at school clued us in to the fact the going rate for a baby tooth was slightly more than the single dollar bill we were planning to place under her pillow.
"That is absurd!" said my husband when our little princess was asleep. "Her mouth is going to bankrupt us!"
In the end, we took inflation and the current market value of enamel into account and gave her five dollars.
Later that evening, in the middle of the late night news, my husband was startled by a sharp nudge in the side. It was Cortlen, who was holding a pair of needle nose pliers and a paper towel. When my husband asked what he wanted, our son simply opened his mouth.
***
What/How much does the tooth fairy leave at your house?
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173 comments
depends on the shape of the tooth. If it has had fillings, it's cheaper.
Once the tooth fairy was sick for 2 nights and had to leave a note explaining that to my son who was quickly giving up on hope of all things fairy-ish (Easter bunny, Santa, etc).
He wrote a note back saying it was okay.
We give $5 for the first tooth and $1 for the rest! A Wii!!!!! you have to be joking! That is insane! Makes me happy we live in rural Maine with the closest neighboring child living over 4 miles away.
$10 a tooth is the going rate around here! I feel like I am getting off cheap after hearing about those other kids!
Bike?!? iPod?!? Wii?!? Those parents must have the tooth fairy mixed up with Santa Claus. That's outrageous!
Our tooth fairy is apparently REALLY cheap. Our kids get a gold dollar and a (snack size) ziploc bag full of candy. On their first tooth they get a little prize too (coloring book, littlest pet shop, etc).
what?! seriously?! it's one buck at our house and that's on a good day. IF the fairy even makes it because she's getting a little high on the years and sometimes doesn't make it that night (or that's what she claims...really she's suffering from brain mush and can't even remember her phone # at times)
wow we have 4 boys and we too give 5 for the first and a dollar for each additional- cool
although our toothfairy works a lot of nights and many many times has forgotten to drop off the money. We always say you did you not place it in the center of your pillow and the tooth fairy missed it? Or one of your brothers must have been awake, you know the tooth fairy won't stop if someones awake, just like santa and the easter bunny. Also after seeing the santa clause movie my kids now believe that the tooth fairy is the guy from that movie.
Do you think my lies are going to get me- word verification is allsin??
Wow! If we gave out a Wii for each lost tooth...we wouldn't be able to afford food for those new teeth to chew.
If it is a special tooth (i.e. first tooth lost or last baby tooth) it is $5.00. Otherwise that would be a single dollar per tooth. The only other exception to this is if the Tooth Fairy forgets the tooth is under the pillow, then she sometimes leaves an extra dollar for her guilt the following night.
LOVE it! We always leave $5.00 for the first tooth, and $2.00 for each one after that... and boy do I remember the panic of remembering to sneak in and put it under their pillows. There's many a morning that the Tooth Fairy must've just dropped the money behind the bed or something silly... that silly Fairy!
Wow I would have to say I was shocked at 5 dollars. We do a dollar a tooth.
HOLY CRAP!!!! What is wrong with those parents?!?! What do they think that they are teaching their precious BRATS?!?! I am only saying that because usually they are...LOL
We give any where from 1 to 2 dollars. Depends on the cash for the day. One time, my oldest said that she was going to play a trick on the tooth fairy to get more money.
She cute out teeth from paper, stuck it under her pillow with a note that said "These are real teeth." Needless to say...she got NOTHING!!!!
It was so cute!
Our kids tend to loose their first tooth much later than their peers, so when my daughter lost her first one at age 6 1/2 she got $6.50. Thus making it seem like a good thing to be older. You see? After that the going rate has been 1 gold dollar per tooth. I really need to be better about having gold dollars on hand though for those unexpected times. The tooth fairy recently had to leave an i.O.U., but at least it was for my 11-year-old. She gave me a wink for her brother's sake!
My kids get $1 for all teeth, plus a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss for the first. $5 sounds fair!
Unfortunately, my daughter had to have her first baby teeth pulled by the dentist. She was so devastated that we gave her $5 for both. The subsequent 2 front teeth got $5 because it was the first one SHE pulled and the other front tooth got knocked out at school (by accident of course)...however, the Tooth Fairy leaves a little note every time and is already preparing her for less money in the teeth following. :)
Now, I'm only 24 and when I was a wee one, 50 cents. I think when I got a little older, I might've received a dollar, but even then, I knew I was pushing it. If I was getting a 5 spot for every tooth, I would've been yanking out my teeth as quickly as possible.
$2 - but I think my 8yo has wised up to WHO the tooth fairy is (read: Mommy is cheap, at least according to her) after a fellow gymnast read off a mile-long list of what the tooth fairy left HER!
Given that the same child got an American Girl doll for sticking a beam routine (my kid got a "Hey, nice ribbon! Good job" from her "cheap" parents), it doesn't take a rocket scientist for a kid to figure it all out. :)
One shiny gold dollar. That is it!!! Once, the tooth fairy threw in some foreign coins.
One dollar. No more. Sheesh.
Wow ..No wonder kids these days are so spoiled! A Wii!???!! The first tooth in our house is a big deal. Five bucks for that one. I weep a little as I tuck that bill under their pillow. I could have bought milk and eggs with that money! After that its a dollar a tooth. (the tooth fairy usually makes the kids wait untill the next paycheck comes in before any money is left)
My daughter's first tooth was determined to stay in her mouth till the last strand that it was hanging out so loose that you could see the gums under it yet my daughter was freaking out every time a finger went close to it to pull it out. One day I had enough and had to hold her down because it was grossing me out to no end. With the slightest tug, it came out! With all her yelling, she never noticed that her tooth was out and continued for another minute before she realized that the deed was already done and soon declared that it hadn't hurt after all!
I started with $2 for the first tooth my daughter lost, every other tooth went down in cost that the tooth fairy is now giving a quarter per tooth. I use the special edition kinds that have the different pictures on them or even with the year that they lost their tooth.
We do a gold dollar from the first tooth to the last.
I haven't got to the tooth fairy stage yet (2nd year molars are cutting as I type)but I just have to comment on the extravagant gifts some of the kids received - one hopes it's all an exaggeration for literary purposes but it wouldn't surprise me to be true in today's world.
I don't know what the fairy will leave here - I like the $5 for the first, $1 for the rest idea.
PS I just found your blog a day or two ago and read through the "favorites" the other night - so funny,loving your blog!
We usually do $5 first tooth and $1 for every other one, unless you tell Grandpa, then you get $10 no matter what. An IPOD REALLY? SERIOUSLY? I'm pulling all my teeth NOW, I need a new car! Thanks for the tip!
$1 around here; $2 have been given when the tooth fairy has forgotten. Also our tooth fairy leaves notes for special occasions; first tooth, one that got knocked out, etc. She has very curly swirly hand writing and she makes up poems. The kids love it!
I'm amazed at the range of tooth prices... we do live in a "cheap" part of town (lower cost of living, cheaper piano lessons, babysitting, etc) so $1 seems to fit with that.
Well, a hundred years ago when my kids were losing teeth, they got one dollar (four quarters) per tooth.
I've never heard of such a thing as electronics for teeth. The tooth fairy has clearly lost her mind...
We also only do a dollar a tooth, and the tooth fairy sometimes has LONG distances to travel so the tooth might be under that pillow for a couple of days... I like all the other excuses people have listed, though! I'll need to use them.
We always got $1, no matter what. I think that's what I'll do when our kids are old enough, too.
I’m still traumatized by being the tooth fairy. My children guard the pillow and the tooth making sure it doesn’t fall behind the bed.
This lame tooth fairy hasn’t even been consistent in the amount that each tooth gets. It’s always what we have on hand. I’ve even tried to buy the tooth from my child.
“I’ll give you 4$ for it right now” so I don’t need worry about forgetting to make the visit. No one has taken me up on it yet.
My oldest, then 9, woke me up early one morning after the tooth fairy had stiffed him the night before and asked “is the tooth fairy real or is it you?” “Do you really want to know?” I sleepily replied. With much trepidation he replied that he did and I told him that we did it and that all of the teeth are in my Grandma’s crystal perfume bottle. He ran in the bathroom, took out the stopper and exclaimed “I thought that was popcorn!” Please tell me I’m not the only one to keep these tiny treasures.
A gold dollar coin and a foreign coin (they have to find the country on a map. We have a little lesson about how the tooth fairy carries money from all the different countries. We talk about the country where the coin came from, languages they speak there, what the weather is like, etc.)
For the first tooth they get a special little toy as well.
We always got a quarter and that's what my kids get. I can see we are by far the cheapest Tooth Fairy out there. I see no reason to up the ante when they know no different at 5/6 years old. My first two kids were both just after their fifth birthday when they lost their first tooth, so money meant nothing to them yet. My oldest is almost 11 and ready to lose her last tooth and it's still 25 cents...
The Tooth Fairy has forgotten a time or two here as well. When you have 3 losing teeth right and left, the excitement tends to run thin.
Just wait until you shell out $4200 to straighten those new beautiful permanent teeth--that's the stage we're in now for the next 8 years (4 kids all spaced 2 years apart and braces stay on two years each...) The first just got hers on March 30.
Uh, I think I would save myself all that trouble and just tell my kids that the Tooth Fairy isn't real. While I'm at it, I would out the Santa and Easter Bunny myths, too. I mean, aren't those religious holidays? Isn't that a good enough reason to celebrate? As for the Tooth Fairy? I really don't get the reasoning behind it in the first place.
For the first tooth the tooth fairy left a tin whistle, because of course the boy couldn't whistle without his tooth. After that, she left a buck a tooth. Now that the boyo is 12, he still demands his buck:)
I got $0.25 a tooth when I was a kid. My little sister and brother (who are ten and thirteen years younger than me respectively, and I am currently in my 23rd year) got a bonus... maybe my bro was up to a dollar a tooth? Us older siblings compained of inflation and the fact that the tooth fairy's income seems to have increased since our childhood. The very idea that someone would give their kid a Wii or an ipod just because a tooth fell out of their mouth is utterly and completely ridiculous. What will those children do when they have to get a job someday and they don't get a prize just for showing up? Maybe someone should tell those parents they are ruining America.
Wow...I'm with 4 Boys Only -- VERY glad to be in Maine where the going rate for teeth is still within reason! :) My kids all got $5 for the 1st tooth, $2 for "average" teeth & $3 for molars. Rates were dropped by $1 if there were cavities. When I was a kid...way, way back in the old days...the going rate was a lousy dime!
We haven't had a lost tooth here yet, but I am planning on giving a $2 bill. You know those are hard to come by so I will have to plan ahead and get to the bank before hand.
Not only has the price for a tooth gone up but the Easter Bunny has now become Santa Claus. My kids are older but some of the things parents put in and around their baskets is craziness. (sorry to those that do that)but what happened to the excitement of just knowing the tooth fairy came and dusted you with sprinkles and left a dollar (I had to start leaving 5's too and that was years ago) and the Easter Bunny who came and ate your carrots and left a chocolate version of himself. Sorry Im sounding like my mother.
My daughter gets a sheet of stickers of $1.
Now, when she loses "the money tooth" i.e. the last baby tooth, I wonder what that will cost me.
Needle nose plyers?? Oh man that is FUNNY!
I'm the cheap on here, it looks like. I only left $1. I don't think he'd ever seen green money before, and he'd thought he'd hit the jackpot!
I usually leave fifty cents to a dollar, and my husband thinks that's way too much.
My kids get $.50 a tooth. I feel cheap now. But, they are excited to get that. I thought about $1 or $5 for the first one, but then they'd expect that everytime. And I'm not doing that.
Why is it every event in our child's lives have to turn into a gift giving occasion? Bikes, Wii's?!?!? Sheesh. That's so over the top it's annoying. One dollar per tooth :)
HOLY GUACAMOLE!! Are those parents insane? They must really think money grows on trees? A Wii? An iPod? That is absurd.
We're are super cheap...50 cents. If we have one, they get a 50 cent piece.
If the dentist was involved in pulling, or filling the tooth then the kid owes me money.
We usually give a dollar or two per tooth.
A few years ago we lived somewhere where one of my son's friends got $20 for a lost tooth! I told him, and our other kids that we had a different tooth fairy. We give $1 for the first tooth and a quarter for all the others. They're just loosing teeth for heaven's sake, not doing chores!!
The tooth fairy leaves only $1 in our house. But my son says she really needs to leave him a whistle with the next tooth he loses.
Our fairy is a huge flake. If the kids are lucky they will find a two dollar bill (or sometimes two silver dollars so they've got passage covered on the river styx) three or four weeks after the big event. Flaky fairies . . . they just aren't what they used to be.
I am definitely the cheap mom here. Its a quarter and a sticker and that is it.
One time the tooth fairy forgot and she left a note explaining that with gas prices being up she had to wait until another little boy on a different farm lost his tooth so she didnt have to make 2 trips and could save money that way.
He was 7 at the time and didnt care he was fascinated by the sticker and quarter.
Our tooth fairy has always (since I was a kid) left enough for candy purchase at the store--so she leaves a dollar. She knows money origami though, so it's a special dollar. For the first tooth, we parents give a small gift (I like the new toothbrush idea though!). I sincerely hope you were exaggerating about the Wii and bike! Those parents should be shot. Kills it for the rest of us "normal" folks!
we live in the 'slums' of our neighborhood where many people paid 1.5 million or more for their homes. we certainly did not. the tooth fairy brings ridiculous things to the kids in our school. so does santa and their indulgent parents for that matter. our kids know better than to complain about the Silver Dollar Coin and note that the tooth fairy brings them. I do wonder when they will recognize the tooth fairy's handwriting is eerily similar to their mothers!!!
$1.00, and this tooth fairy feels generous. I do try to leave something like a tiny bead from the fairy's dresss, or a wing (ribbon cut to shape). I guess I think that focuses more on the magic than the dollar . . . though come to think of it, it's not too hard to distract from a dollar.
My nephews get a Matchbox car and a 50-cent coin. An ipod? Really? That's ludicrous!
We leave all of the change we can put our hands on, which is usually around a buck. A WII? Holy cow!
Our tooth fairy always left cool toothbrushes and toothpaste. My poor kids had to suffer, I tell ya!
$1.00 No regrets. It's a requirement for meanest moms. :)
That's insane! I was thinking a quarter would be good enough.
We got a quarter or two per tooth and were grateful for it! Kids these days. I'll probably leave no more than a dollar per tooth when my kids start losing teeth, going rate be hanged!
I've only been the tooth fairy twice - 1st and 2nd tooth for our Oldest Boy (6). For his first time, he left a note simply requesting that he be allowed to keep the tooth as well as the loot. He didn't have high expectations, save for being allowed to keep the tooth.
The Tooth Fairy left the tooth, a note in reply, and $3 sprinkled with fairy dusty (silver/white glitter). We left $3 for the second tooth, too, but I have (thankfully) no idea what the other kids get. My kids don't know what a Wii or an iPod are, yet, so that has worked out well!
$1. I hope my kids never hear these stories!
$1.00 here too.
$2.00 if the kids pulls the tooth themselves.
And we have a special "tooth fairy box" that I keep on the dresser in my room.
Then, when the kids go to bed, I just put the dollar in the box, and dont have to wait until they fall asleep.
We give .50 to $1 for teeth, depending on what kind of change the tooth fairy has laying around. I was pretty shocked to hear there were kids at church getting video games for their lost teeth. I say NO WAY!
The tooth fairy leaves a golden dollar. Means that some preparation is involved in getting these ahead of time, but the grocery store bank has them. My best friend does it, so I stole the idea. We made a huge deal about it, and it's never been a problem about the amount...so long as it's "golden."
2 bucks, my kids think that is a lot of money. and ipod?? Horseback riding lessons?? What is wrong with parents? wow.
$5 for the first tooth and $1 for all other teeth. Unless one has to be pulled, that one was $3. Fortunately, he grew wise to the truth about the Tooth Fairy and I stopped giving him money.
At our house the tooth fairy give a gold dollar (if you buy stamps at the post office vending machine you get gold dollars for change and they are open 24/7). The tooth Fairy doesn't come on Sunday (we forgot) or on odd Weds, or sometimes there is a recession and the tooth fairy is saving for new wings..ok maybe not the last but as our kids got older and the youngest lost teeth the lines of communication between mom and the tooth fairy kinda got a little slow. We finally gave the poor kid $5 and said no more tooth fairy.
OMG! You're so funny...and so is your son. Our tooth fairy gave a few bucks for the 1st tooth...but after that...it's gold $1 coins (I got a roll of them from the bank). They're different enough that they're "Special" to the toothless one. =)
After I read the first few comments I was feeling like the worst mother ever, but as I read on I found I'm not the only one who gives less than a dollar per tooth! I grab whatever spare change I can find and that's what they get. It's totally random per tooth, sometimes $.65, sometimes $.50...depends on what change Dad has in his pockets!
I too forget to go in once in a while and have to explain how busy the tooth fairy is!
Hm. Times have changed. I lost my first tooth when I was 6. That was only 17 years ago. I think we got 1$, maybe $2 if the fairy was feeling generous.
I always wanted to lose teeth while at my aunt's house because she doesn't have children, and so the toothfairy would bring a crisp $5 bill. Alas, it only happened twice. :)
wowzers. i'm so glad we don't do the tooth fairy!! i'd go broke.
My son just lost his first tooth a couple weeks ago and I asked all my friends this same question. Most said a dollar or less. Our tooth fairy left a gold dollar.
We just had the tooth fairy come and visit our home for the VERY LAST time this year. WHoo hoo! Those visits I thought were going to kill us!
I just about choked when I read your post.....
ALL 6 of our kids got 25 cents per tooth. From the first to the last. And THAT was expensive! I can't imagine more than that. I got nothing as a kid.
I think I received a quarter when I was a kid. By the time my youngest siblings (#12 & 13 of 13 kids) were losing teeth the secret was out so they would simply skip the pillow routine, instead presenting the tooth to Mom and she would send them to get a quarter from her purse! Some games are easier NOT to play :)
We plan on giving a dollar for each tooth here. Though my older two's mother would always send them to our house with their teeth and the going rate for them was $5 because that's what their mom did... I think that fairy was just trying to get off easy!!
$1
For my first tooth, I got a dime. When I alerted my parents to the fact that all my friends were getting dollars, they gave me 50 cents. My sister (4 years younger than me) gets a dollar. We also aren't paid for the many chores we do and don't have the Easter bunny visit us, not being Christian. We're Russian so we celebrate New Year's with Grandfather Frost (a character much like Santa) leaving my sis and me no more than a $20 giftcard each to either a bookstore or a craftstore. All of my friends get a lot more (I go to private school) but my parents prefer to spend that money on education. Just to let you know I am fourteen.
What happened to 50 cents a tooth. And I'm still pretty young. seriously people, it scares me to think what I will be having to fork out for my childrens teeth. I think I got a dollar for my last few because I was a little older. but 5 dollars seems a little much for me. My parents would have a heart attack if they heard about how much people give their kids in money. I'll stick to 1 dollar a tooth. I would rather they do chores for money instead of pulling out thier teeth! that should be a bonus not a goal!
Hi Jana-
I had some people tell me about your blog as I was recently (today) diagnosed with Fifth Disease. I am 18 weeks pregnant and from what I've read, you had quite a scary experience. I was wondering if you had any advice/ideas/tips. I'm still in the "shock stage" but was looking for a little help.
Thank you for your time!
I'm not a blogger, but I do have an email address: jennaatbyu@yahoo.com
P.S. While I came to your blog for advice, I found myself laughing to the point of tears at your little adventures with your family. Keep it up!
The first tooth is a big event, so we give $5. For every tooth after that we give $1. Good enough -- a Wii, bike or Ipod is beyond ridiculous! And I know some people that leave notes, sprinkle "fairy dust" etc. It is difficult to keep up the momentum if it is such a huge event every time. And be prepared - once my kids lost the first tooth, they started falling out in quick succession - have those dollar bills handy! Once my daughter lost a tooth while she was brushing her teeth before bed - it was a tooth I didn't even realize was loose!
Our assigned tooth fairy brings gold dollars - one per tooth.
Coincidentally, there is a vending machine in the lobby of our post office - which is open fairly late - that spits out two gold dollars in change when you purchase a book of stamps for $10.
It's $5 per tooth around our neck of the woods - but I like the idea of giving them less if it has a filling!
With orthodontic and pediatric dentistry bills - our kids wake up happy to 1 gold dollar coin.
You can still get away with a dollar with each additional tooth now that the first tooth was honored with a $5 bill.
our kids get a golden dollar (sacagewea). I figure they can take it or leave it! It's just a tooth!
Lots of comments- this is a hot topic apparently! :)
I can't believe what some of those kids are getting! I wonder if their parents are doing that because they feel guilty about something and try to have that make up in the other areas- who knows. But I think $5 is plenty... $1 or $2 even. Really, a Wii?! Crazy!
$5?? Our kids get $1 and I've been told that we are very generous.
My son was THRILLED with a dollar! They don't really understand the concept of money.
You have some smart cookies when it comes to wheeling and dealing!
$1 per tooth. We have "trauma pay," though. For the occasions when the tooth is lost because some kid stepped on your untied shoelace and your mouth stopped you fall, or for those teeth that must be pulled by the dentist because they refuse to fall out even though the adult tooth is clearly visible (7 at one time is our record, yeah my kids don't like to give up their baby teeth). Trauma pay is not an exact science and varies from tooth to tooth, often depending on how much the "tooth fairy" has on had that evening.
My son was the first in our little playgroup to lose a tooth at 4 1/2 so we went online to toothfairy.org and signed him up for the 1 dollar for the first tooth and a "raise" of 25 cents for each subsequent tooth. That took care of the discussions about fairness and the neighbor's children. They signed up for a different plan!
We are in the UK, and the tooth fairy leaves £1 (one pound), when she remembers, she's a bit flakey in the UK as well. Once we were on holiday in the States, so she left a dollar.
I've never heard of anyone getting more than £1 per tooth over here.
Not an ipod. That's for sure.
We don't plan on playing the Tooth Fairy game with our children. Or Santa...
Holy bananas!!! One dollar is the going rate around here, although for the first tooth it's usually a small present. Like a coloring book or something, not a Wii!!!
Are you kidding! That's like 24 Wii's by the time the kid is 12 or something! $1 around here! I'd go broke if it were more...especially when they lose 2 or 3 at the same time!
The first tooth was $5 and all the others were GOING to be $1, but I only had a $5 bill the second time! SO, maybe $5 will have to be the going rate here too. I think the kids in your neighborhood may just be trying to one up each other with STORIES of what the tooth fairy gave them! I can't believe a the tooth fairy would be so generous! Wow!
-Jen
I only have toddlers, but I still want to say that I LOVE your blog!! You are so right on & fun!
I just brought this topic up with hubby & read him your post. After he was done laughing/being shocked he sadly stated that he got nickels for his teeth, so we're thinking dollar coins for our kiddos... who knows.
Sheesh, I didn't know teeth had gone up so much. I'd better put out some feelers on selling a kidney so I'll be prepared. The teeth are going to start dropping around here any day.
We do a $1.00 per tooth. Call me cheap, but they are just teeth!!!!
Wow. I will concure with what A LOT of these other women have said. I wil never let my kids get their heads full of ludicris ideas of getting "loads" for loosing a tooth. Someone said, they aren't doing chores. I totally agree. Everyone loses teeth. Take out the trash. Rake the back yard. Wash the car. Do some real work and you can get paid. Loose and tooth and be happy for what the Toothfairy DOES bring you. Spoiled rotten little terds. I can't believe people out there actually do that crap. Over compensation for not actually parenting maybe? Try a hug. That's worth more than gold.
My sister in law told my daughter that her tooth was worth $5.00 and my little girl(5 years old) started thinking of all the things she could buy with $5.00, one of which is a big wooden playhouse. I didn't want to let her down about the $5.00 so I told her the Tooth Fairy gives $5 for just the first tooth and then she spent the rest of the day asking what things she can get for 5 bucks. She hasn't lost any teeth yet though. We will probably give $1 for the rest of the teeth.
Y'all...I do not even know what to say about getting a Wii or American girl doll or even ten dollars from the tooth fairy. Come ON, people. It's a tooth. And, it's a fun little thing....a dollar is all our tooth fairy leaves....and sometimes that is in spare change, and more than once it was magically found behind the bed where it must have fallen during the night. Kudos to you organized parents who have gold dollars lying around. If I can find 4 quarters and don't have to resort to nickels and pennies, I consider myself lucky!!
Small soapbox--the entitlement of our children has gotten out of hand (mine included). Figuring out how to fix it is definitely something I would like to do.....
One quarter. That's right, ONLY $0.25.
Unless the tooth fairy happens to be really forgetful, and the child has to wait several nights, in which case they get interest!
My kids get a dollar. This is always a problem when I don't have change in my purse and have to resort to borrowing from their piggy bank. But we put the tooth in a cup filled with water. When the tooth fairy reaches in to grab the tooth, some of her sparkles come off and colour the water. And sometimes even one of her feathers falls off. That is always the most exciting part for my 3. What colour was the fairy??
We pay $2 at tooth. I have 4 children and my oldest had trouble with his teeth. Shortly before he turned twelve he had to undergo surgery where they pulled 11 of his 12 remaining baby teeth. He had the surgery at a childrens hospital and they very happily bagged the teeth for him to take home and put under his pillow. (Gross!) On the way home from the hospital he asked "Do you really want me to put all these under my pillow or do you just want to slip me the $22 now?" Cute - huh?
So I paid him off and went to bed early that night.
The Tooth Fairy just landed last week. She leaves gold coins, usually 2. I love the Disney movie called "Toothless" with a skinny, ok, thin, Kirsty Ally. She is the tooth fairy and changes teeth into coins. Our tooth fairy gets her coins at the Post Office machine when purchasing stamps, the coins come as change. No joking.
Here's more information regarding teeth and money. My kids get their teeth cleaned every 6 months. If they are cavity free, they get $20. If they have cavities, they have to pay for them, usually my co-pay $17. Brushing pays!
Anywhere between $3 and $5 depending on the level of drama when the tooth came out. Blood warrants more money. But, yeah, the 50 cents I got when I was a kid is unacceptable now. The toothfairy has to keep up with inflation too! :-)
We decided a long time ago to lie to our children. We told them that we had a conference with all of the major players when we first got married. (Santa, Easter bunny, Toot Fairy,etc.) We let them know that we, and every other parent out there, let these very generous characters know what they're comfortable with letting them give. It explains why every family does something different.
OK, so to all of you mom's and dad's out there that THINK it is OK to spoil your kids with outrageous items from the toothfairy, or any other fairy people, you will receive bad karma for a year from all of us sane parents. Shame on you!!
From-A simple mom with simple ideals.
Hi Jana -
This post made me laugh. We give the younger kids 2 quarters because, to them, 2 quarters is worth more than 1 bill of any denomination! But their classmates, too, make it difficult. One of my daughter's friends has 58 Webkinz, many of them given to her in multiples for one single tooth!
Liz
Oh! And another thing! Paying your children for simple chores like picking up their dirty clothes is feeding them false ideas. I have NEVER been paid to do laundry, dishes, mow, sweep, vaccum, and dust. It's a part of life. Deal.
My oldest child, who is 5, lost his first tooth. Definitely more tramatic for us, then him. I had been anticipating this loss for a while (it was wiggly for a long time). I bought a small piggy bank with his name on it, and put a dollar and a few coins in it, and put it next to his bed, with a note talking about saving money until you have enough to buy what you really want. We thought it was a good time to start teaching him about saving and earning money (a.k.a. quarters for jobs, etc). It worked out really well. His 3 year old sister keeps praying that she will lose her teeth. I guess the real question is what do you do with the tooth? I earned those teeth!! Every ear infection and sleepless night. But, how long do you keep them for? Believe me, (as a person who is the owner of all her baby teeth, thanks mom) your kids don't want them! But I can't bring myself to throw them away!
I seriously cannot believe that! By the time my four-yr-old loses his first tooth, the tooth fairy will be passing out Certificates for Deposit! But, I have to say that if it were the tooth fairy that is patiently waiting in our home, she strictly passes out $1 bills and maybe a "man". Your daughter may need to find some friends whose parents are in a lower tax bracket. They must be the same parents who give out BMWs for their children's 16th birthdays. Must be nice!
count me in with the cheap moms. A million years ago, when I was young, I got a whole dime for a tooth. So I thought I was being a cool mom giving my kids (now age 9) a dollar per tooth. One time, one of my sons found one of his teeth that I'd saved in my drawer. He then asked me if he could resubmit it to the tooth fairy to get another dollar. Now they know the truth of the TF's identity, so they hand me the tooth and I give them a dollar.
By the way, did anyone else hear the piece about the "Tooth Fairy" on "This American Life" ? I can't remember the episode, thought.
===== Mary Helen
Wow, it is cool to see how many others also give a gold dollar coin like we do.
If for some reason the tooth fairy wasn't able to make it to our house a few nights in a row, we have put the tooth in a glass of water on the kitchen window sill. She usually shows up that night and drops the coin in there....
My kiddo's get a silver dollar per tooth...and my husband ends up "buying it" from them for two dollars. Because they would rather spend the Silver dollar then to hold on to it :)
It is ridiculous what kids get these days. It will be a while before Gavin looses a tooth (hopefully) but I am certain nothing with wheels, requires batteries, or anything with a console will be gifted!
PS- you might want to hide the tools!
Now every tooth is going to cost you $5, unless you replace it with a pack of gum or something.
We do $2, which is probably too much. I think we need to start accounting for some deflation in the future.
1st tooth = 1 dollar
2nd tooth = 2 dollars
3rd tooth = 3 dollars
etc.
This is the way our oldest explained it to his brother after he had lost his second tooth. We thought it sounded like a good idea. We started before we actually added up how much money we will give for a mouth. It is a fun little tradtion.
No kids yet, but I got a quarter as a kid... I think I always knew it was my mom, and I can remember grabbing her hand as she stuck the money under my pillow!
When my oldest child was ready to lose his first teeth, he had to go to the dentist to have four baby teeth pulled at once. My kids don't like to let go of their baby teeth-a trait they unfortunately inherited from me. Because I refer to the oldest as our "Experiment Kid", I asked some friends what the going rate was for the tooth fairy so I could set the trend for the rest of the kids to follow. One friend told me she gave her children $5 per tooth, unless it was a "traumatic loss"--then it deserved $10 per tooth. Evidently, my son's tooth extraction at the dentist's office x four qualified as a "traumatic loss", so by her standards, the tooth fairy, A.K.A. me, owed my seven year old FOURTY DOLLARS!!! Plus, I had to pay $145 in dentist fees for him to "lose" those teeth! Needless to say, my poor "experiment kid" got $4 dollars that night under his pillow, and the tooth fairy has brought one dollar a tooth for each kid ever since--"traumatic loss", or not!
:-)
my kids get a dollar, which they think is a lot of money. it helps that they are home schooled so they don't hear about the tooth fairy leaving a 20 under their friends' pillows. :) and this tooth fairy often forgets on the first night. sigh.
Just a buck here. My oldest is a terrible saver...so he has been collecting his teeth and one day he is going to put them under his pillow at the same time and get some "real cash" Good luck to him!
no frickin' way. $1. and that was a lot....
I got an orange under my pillow!
I'm an elementary school teacher. Kids say they got a Wii from the tooth fairy, but they really got it months ago and just want to tell everyone that they have one.
I've heard of doing fairy dust with sparkles and a gold $1 coin. Cute, simple, cheap, need I say more!
First tooth $5 (as a celebration). All the rest $1, if I remember ;-)
Well now we give 2 dollars, expect for the time my son got bucked off a horse and lost his first tooth early (only because my husband was sick of it hanging and ripped it out- only to find out it wasn't as loose as it looked) We have 5 for that.
We finally had to set a price because my daughter has a good memory and kept track of who was getting more. Until then I was just giving any change I had in my purse at the time.
Ok - I don't even have a wii, an i-pod or a decent bike for that matter!! This is what is wrong with society today!! At our house first tooth is $2, all other teeth are $1 and the tooth fairy ALWAYS leaves a trail of fairy dust from their pillows to the windowsill :) Now when I was a kid it was a quarter or maybe 50 cents and the tooth fairy never left dust!!
Well Daddy is a little more generous then mommy.. one night our middle daughter lost a tooth while I was at work and he left her 7 bucks under her pillow. Mommy has 3$ max lol.
Five dollars at our house.
I have a friend that leaves books for teeth. I like that idea because it promotes reading and education.
Since I am about to spend $1200 on crowning and filling 6 or 7 baby teeth in my six year old's mouth (our oldest who hasn't lost any teeth yet), I definitely like the idea of paying less or nothing for teeth with cavities. Before reading this post and comments I thought we would leave a dollar per tooth, that seems good enough to me.
I'm right there with ya...$5 for the first tooth, and a buck for any additional teeth. My daughter wanted to keep the teeth, so the tooth fairy let her keep them :)
Fifty cents for a small tooth, one dollar for a molar. Final answer. :)
An explanation for those of you who "don't play tooth fairy" or "don't understand why the kid should get any money"; Some children are afraid of pulling their teeth! It is dangerous to force the issue. Instead of loosing fingertips, we genius parents have learned that children will do anything for GOLD or PAPER money. Therefore, the game (the harmless and can-be-fun-for-the-fairy-too game).
a friend of mine had a birthday party for her kid with the family and friends. The kid lost his first tooth that evening and my friend had no change on hand for the deed and asked around for change from family. they got $5 from someone and slipped it under the pillow and thought they were done. The kid woke up with $25 because other people had snuck in their own 5 bucks! That was a funny story but I bet they are not laughing because they have 4 other younger kids!
Well, we've only had one lost tooth for which we generously gave 4 quarters. Somehow that seemed like more than 1 dollar to my 5-year-old. He has another tooth coming in that isn't cooperating and the dentist is going to have to pull the baby tooth, so I think the price might have to go up. We have 2 weeks until that appointment to decide.
I always got a necklace that my dad bought at the air port. He used to go out of town a lot so he bought a bunch of them, the Tooth Fairy would leave a necklace and a dollar
After waking my elder brothers once too often while collecting teeth and leaving money, the Tooth Fairy told my parents that it would be best if newly-lost teeth were left in a glass on either the child's nightstand or dresser.
The Tooth Fairy never again had trouble finding the tooth -no more fumbling around in the dark for it; hooray!- and since the payment given in return for the tooth was left in the same glass, the money was easily found by gap-toothed child in the morning.
This arrangement worked very well for all 7 of us kids and for all of our children (the next generation), as well; the Tooth Fairy hasn't woken a child in our family for over 60-years.
Beth
2 dollars--a one dollar bill and change that adds up to a dollar--have a to get a little math lesson in there!
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who's forgotten to leave $ for a tooth! Luckily the tooth went missing between headboard & bed. I got to slip a dollar, yes a dollar, in there & then showed son how he must have pushed it there while sleeping.
We give $1 per tooth....except that night that the tooth fairy was very tired and mistook several coins for something different than what they really were. That time my son got $1.76!
WOW - good thing he didn't go to town all by himself with those pliers!
$5 for the first one and we'll see on the rest....that's the plan, at least.
And if you get an ipod for losing teeth, I'm ready to head for the pliers too.
$5 for the first and just a regular $1 for each after that (sometimes it's even 4 quarters). I do like the idea of the gold dollar. Wish I'd thought of that one.
my kids seem to get 5 too, but a little more is warranted when the tooth has to be forcibly extracted by the dentist :(
Dang, kids are WAY too spoiled these days! Our tooth fairy gives 2 quarters for a tooth. My kids are especially thrilled when they get 2 state quarters. My oldest son did get $2 for his last tooth and he was more than thrilled. I don't mean to get on my soapbox, but I'm sorry to say that it's the parents that have created this generation that has the "entitlement" attitude. Let's get back to the basics, people!!
Those other gifts are crazy! Our first tooth was $4.45 from what we found around the house and our son thinks that the cleaner the tooth the more money you get...not sure where he got that from! I look at it as a quick way to make some coins since he's whining all the time to me how he can make money when I tell him to save his money and buy his own toys.
$10 for the first.
$5 for the rest.
Items are ridiculous! Unless it is the toothbrush, floss, and toothpaste variety. Are you sure she wasn't playing you?
Our system is complicated. They get $5 for the upper fronts, the first tooth, and any that the dentist has to pull (pain and suffering). The rest are $2. You wanna talk bankrupt? My son lost one tooth the day before Christmas, my daughter lost her first on Christmas Day, then my son lost another the day after Christmas. It cost me $12 in all. I tried to initiate a rule that no more teeth could be lost around gift giving holidays or birthdays, but it didn't pass legislation in the family. They told me it was out of their hands.
My sil told my oldest that each tooth was $20.00. I told her that she owed me $19.00 for each one he loses!
Grammy knows the Toothfairy personally so it's $20 a tooth. Mommy and Daddy don't have such a close relationship with her so only $5 is deposited if we don't wait for Grammy to visit or we visit her.
My 2 year old isn't out of teeth yet, but I gave my nephew a special tooth box (really cute from chasing-fireflies.com) on his 5th birthday in anticipation of his lost teeth. It's a great gift because the kids love putting their teeth in there and the parents don't have to feel around underneath the pillow for a yucky tooth. But I told him that the Tooth Fairy leaves a quarter in the box. I guess it's up to his parents to up the ante on that one.
For their first tooth they get a dollar for every year they are old. For every one thereafter it;s whatever the tooth fairy can scrounge up. After my son lost his 3rd pair of gloves this winter I told him he had to buy the next pair with his own money. Mommy guilt got the better of me thinking he'd have frostbitten hands so the tooth fairy brought him some gloves for that tooth.
a bike? wow. my kids are too young to lose teeth. but my niece lost hers the other day, and my sister forgot to leave money...the next day my niece was heartbroken, to cover my sisters rear end she told my niece it was the bad economy. She went through the house and scraped up some coins. lol
Our tooth fairy leaves gold dollars (the Sacajawea ones). They end up getting recycled as my 7 yos' have a tendency to soil themselves and so pay extra laundry fines.
I-pods, Wiis, and riding lessons? You have GOT to be kidding.
Sheesh. It hadn't even occurred to me the affect inflation would have on the quarter I always got. My kids still think quantity beats amount so instead of a quarter, maybe I should have the tooth fairy leave 7 pennies?
my aunt gave us bracelets to give charms to our daughters for each tooth lost. Brilliant!!!!!
Wowie! My kids get 4 shiny quarters. CANADIAN!
I thought I was generous with a quarter, especially since the last few teeth have gotten IOUs.
My first-grader has yet to lose a tooth, and my fourth-grader just lost the first baby molar.
We always gave our kids $1 per tooth. Our son believed in every fun, fantasy character but our daughter never did. She still liked to put her tooth under the pillow and look for the money the next morning even though she called us the "tooth mommy/daddy" (or "Easter mommy/daddy"). I'm not sure but I think that our son gives $1-2 per tooth for his kids now also.
50 cents a tooth, that adds up fast enough. My daughter would be crying if she had to pay for any tooth that had to be pulled as she has has to have every one of her baby teeth pulled because they apparently didn't know that they should come out on their own. I think it is more about the fun and fantasy of the tooth fairy coming than the actual amount of money.
The tooth fairy leaves $1 per tooth if lost naturally. If the oral surgeon had to help and lately he's gotten a lot of business from our twins with severe overcrowding, then the tooth fairly leaves $5-10 overall not per tooth. A lot depends on the number of teeth being taken out! Our record is four at once. Given the cost of the orthodontist and oral surgeon, it's all the tooth fairy can afford. Of course she always leaves a trail of fairy dust.....edible gold dust or the new luster dust that Wilton makes work very well! My kids are old enough to have figured out the tooth fairy (or so they think). They still haven't figured out the fairy dust. Here's a hint, when leaving money make sure some idiot hasn't written a message on the bill. That's what blew it for our daughter. Because the tooth fairy would never leave such desecrated money, her's are always clean, crisp and new.
We give a two dollar bill, a gold susan b anthony dollar, or a silver dollar. I went to the bank and exchanged my cash for all the two dollar bills they had in the joint, then I hid them in a very good hiding place that I can never remember when the time comes. It's always one of those demonimations no matter what # the tooth is or what the condition it's in.
This is something I just must say. I inherited unimaginably horrible teeth from my mother... I eat nearly no sugar and am on a strict diet, and I still have teeth rotting out of my head. I also have a child that has rotten teeth WHICH is not her fault. To blame a child for cavities is not very nice (I have other asjectives that I won't use). Maybe you should leave MORE money for letting them get a cavity... punnishing a child because they got a filling.... I never.... shame shame shame.
Well I"m so late in replying, and don't know if you'll ever read this, but dang, I want to lose all my teeth in your neck of the woods!!
We gave, ahem, the tooth fairy left $5.00 for a first tooth and for those after I think $.50 or $1.00........sadly I've forgotten as my youngest is 11 and when he last lost a tooth I said, sorry baby, the fairy is gone.
I want to thank the Cranes for also only giving a quarter or maybe two. Wow, spoiling your kids like that doesn't seem like a good idea at all. Sometimes we give $1 if we forget or if we don't have a quarter around.
It doesn't mean that you are a bad parent if you hold back a bit.
$5!!!!! My kids get a quarter.
My kids are lucky if the toothfairy remembers! We are down to the two youngest and I am pretty sure the toothfairy needs to retire! Her memory sucks!
When the toothfairy DOES remember, it is a lucky day for $1.00. Usually it is a fifty cent peice.
I swear, I got a nickel for a tooth, and this was in the 80's!
The way that I found out the tooth fairy was not real:
I decided I needed to let the tooth fairy know that 5 cents wasn't really cutting it- so I worte her a letter, and put it under my pillow. Weeks went by, and the letter was never gone in the morning. Of course, I didn't tell my parents about this little attempt at correspondence. Finally, I told my brother, and when he stopped laughing, he let me in the secret.. the tooth fairy is mom and dad!! What?! It was a domino effect, ending in the discovery that Santa as well, was a big hoax. I was devastated!
Five dollars! Man, you are generous! I would say $1. In fact, I was going to say a quarter, but then I realized my kids probably should get more than I got 25 years ago. (Our oldest is only 3, so this is just a theoretical comment anyway). ipods and Wiis? That's just crazy.
Um...at our house...$.50. Am I the new 'meanest mom'?
who cares what other people do? i like to explain to my kids that God put them in our family for a reason and sometimes that means special things, other times that means sucking it up and dealing with us!
Our youngest (twins) are only get $1 each time. They are almost 10, but the boy started losing his teeth very late so we have a ways to go. We have been bad tooth fairies stand ins and have thrown the real tooth fairy under the bus too many times at this point. We've also thrown the kids under a few times -- well, you went to bed so late, the tooth fairy probably came and you weren't in bed yet with your tooth under the pillow and that sort of thing. As they get older, it's much harder to sneak back in and do the deed or we fall asleep and forget. At times when we've been really bad, THEN they get $5. :-)
When our daughter lost her first baby tooth recently, she received one penny, one nickel, one dime, and one quarter...41 cents that totally made her day. Of course, she's not in school yet, where other parents totally ruin the cheapability of baby teeth.
My kids get a handful of foreign coins that are probably worth about fifty cents, but which my kids and their friends think are "way" cool. Or they get a dollar. Either way, it works.
We do $2 for first/ $1 for the rest. My favorite part of the Tooth Fairy is that she leaves a trail of glitter from the window to the tooth (which is in a cup, NOT under the pillow). It gets everywhere and is a reminder for days that a tooth was lost! Once I forgot what color glitter she leaves and I had to ask the kids in a nonchalant way!
Camber showed me her missing tooth in Primary. she is so adorable.
HA! One dollar. We've heard those stories too, but on a medical student's salary we can't compete. (Medical Students don't get paid.)
At our house, the tooth fairy leaves some type of hot wheel car/plane/truck. (we have boys) So the $$ equivalent would be between $1-5 depending. We feel like there is nothing all that exciting about money as they get it in their bday cards, ect. But a toy is something they can play with and keep. They are VERY excited to find a car under their pillow in the morning!
Omg i got a half doller and $2 bill
Ok. I don't know that anyone will even see this. I just found this blog while trying to decide if I was horrible and unfair.
First of all. We don't do tooth fairy (or any of the others). Only one is old enough to understand the concepts right now. It also doesn't help that she was adopted. I didn't get her until she was three, and in those first few years she went through hell. So, I told her that I would always be completely honest with her if she would do the same for me. So, she's known the truth since my first Christmas with her.
Anyway, she gets five dollars per tooth as long as there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. If there is a cavity, filling, cap, or any other defect... the tooth is worthless.
So far, she's lost three and I'm out fifteen bucks. But in the end, I think it will pay off. There is no need to sneek around hiding the money. She doesn't get the spoiled brat complex of getting something for nothing, so she takes care of them. And she feels that she has an advantage over all the other kids because she is "grown-up enough to know the truth". Although she knows not to spoil it for anyone else. (She has cousins who are twice her age and still believe.) At first, I was sure she would let it slip, but so far so good. She said she likes being in on the secret. :)
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