A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

My daughter lost her sixth tooth last night. We put her tooth in her tooth fairy pillow (that I purchased at a craft fair a few years ago), and this morning, she awoke to find money slipped into the pillow’s pocket. When I asked her what she got, she told me that she received $2 “as usual.”

Now, I am wondering how the money that the tooth fairy leaves my daughters ranks with what she leaves other kids. Should my kids be getting more money tucked into their tooth fairy pillows? Two dollars seems like a lot to me, since when I was a kid, a lost tooth only garnered 25 cents, which I was pretty happy with. But maybe $2 a tooth isn’t so much these days.

I’ve read online that kids these days get anywhere from $1 to $10 a tooth, but $10 a tooth sounds mighty extravagant to me. I also read that the tooth fairy sometimes even leaves toys like Barbies and chapter books for lost choppers.

The tooth fairy who visited my daughter last night, however, does something I think makes up for any monetary differences between how much money she leaves and what other tooth fairies leave. My daughters have taken to writing long questionnaires for their tooth fairies, so tooth fairies have a lot of work to do when they visit our house. (My daughters came up with the idea of writing these questions on their own.)

This morning, we found out a few things about the tooth fairy who visited our house last night from the questionnaire my daughter left: Her name is Belinda, she is 411 years old, she doesn’t go to school because she has finished school, and she lives deep in the woods in a flower house.

For tooth fairies who want to make their visit special without laying down too much cash, try these ideas:

• Create something special to stuff the tooth into -- bringing out that special item every time a tooth is lost will create a special tradition. I bought tooth fairy pillows for my daughters, but they can be simply made, as well. (See photo to get a glimpse of one of my daughter’s tooth fairy pillows.) You could also make or purchase a small velvet pouch for the tooth. Cute craft kits for making tooth fairy pillows can be purchased online.

• Leave behind small items like glitter, confetti or stickers to make the visit more magical.

• If you give cash for a tooth, trying using new, crisp bills, or special coins or bills like a half-dollar or a $2 bill. Or, if you know origami, fold the bill(s) in a unique way. You could even leave coins from other countries behind for budding coin collectors.

• Commemorate the tooth fairy’s visit by leaving behind a certificate that notes the date the tooth was lost, the kid’s age and which tooth was lost. Perhaps add a photo of the child (with his or her gap-filled smile) to the certificate.

Have a tradition or craft idea for making tooth-fairy visits special? Tell us in the comments section below.