Three Questions on This First Special Milestone.

Hello, I have used some very great stories about the tooth fairy to help my kids accept the loss of their teeth! I make up a special story for each child and then they find a dollar rolled up in the tissue that their tooth once laid in! On one of my girls, she loves butterflies, so I told her how the fairy will create a special butterfly and name it after her! The time frame I don't remember, each person is different. My littlest (6) has had a loose tooth for over 2 months now! Hopefully it will come out soon! Plus I keep their first tooth for when they get older! My son who is now 22 saw his first tooth and was amazed at how small it really is! Good luck!
Sincerely,
Kathy N.

A gold dollar. It's a special coin from the Tooth Fairy -- worked like a charm, my child was more than excited.

It's usually a good amount of time before it's loose enough to fall out on it's own, like maybe 2 or 3 weeks, however, once it's loose enough that we can see the top of the tooth (meaning the part that used to be embedded in the gum) and we can see the pulp in the center of the tooth when it's wiggled certain ways, then we pull it out. It bleeds a little bit, but nothing that a good rinse with cold water won't take care of.

My kids get $5 for the first tooth and $3 for each tooth after that. That's probably a lot more than most tooth fairies give, but our tooth fairy has a sliding scale depending on the health of the tooth. Since she uses the teeth to build her castle she doesn't pay as much for teeth with holes in them (cavities) because they let in a draft (our tooth fairy is small like Tinkerbell). So there has to be room for the sliding scale. So far she hasn't had to accept any teeth with cavities in them yet.

Our tooth fairy also leaves a pretty note in glittery marker on the occasion of the first tooth telling our kids congratulations and to keep brushing because they're doing great so far. Sometimes she'll leave them a packet of floss if they've been forgetting to floss recently.

Also, every time she visits, she comes in the window, even if it's shut (because she has magic of course) and we know that because she always leaves a trail of glitter from the window to the bed and back. We figure that it's magic dust that falls off of her wings and wand.

Also, I made my son a special tooth pillow. It's small and fits under his pillow perfectly. It's got a tooth shaped pocket in the front that he puts his tooth into. I made the pocket out of jersey (an old T-shirt) so it would drape around the tooth and keep it in place.

My son lost a tooth at his dad's house over the last summer and they LOST the tooth, so no tooth fairy visit for him there. I was PISSED! It was so careless. I mean, I've DUG THROUGH THE GARBAGE for a tooth that accidentally got thrown out when my son wanted to hold it and wouldn't go put it in his pillow like I told him to (I found it too!). So anyways, the tooth fairy left him a note next time telling him that she went back and looked for his tooth. She found it so she was leaving him the money from last time too.

I love being able to do all of this for my kids. I believe in keeping the magic alive for as long as possible! :)

Go to the bank and get some 50 cent coins....you don't see them much so a child will think its a big deal.

Going rate? I think just 50 cents--no need to go overboard with a lot of cash for a small child. (I do recall a funny thing when my son was small and lost a tooth while visiting his grandparents in Oregon..First thing he said to me was "Mom the Tooth Fairy in Oregon must be richer then the Tooth Fairy in Calfiornia". I still get a kick out of that.

I'm all for wrapping the tooth in a small hanky or kleenex and just letting your child carefully place it under their pillow.

Most of all enjoy all these little childhood things!

Blessings.....

every tooth... once loose, will take its own time to fall out. And not all teeth are the same.
There is no one 'answer' to that question.
You just have to keep an eye on it.

Next, I got .25 cents when I was a kid. Then, today, a few of my Daughter's classmates even got... $25 dollars for a darn tooth. Some got $10.
I think that is obscene. And so over the top.

For us, we gave to our Daughter, for the "1st" tooth... $5. Then thereafter, we give her 1-2 dollars. That's it.
Once, she lost a tooth that was close to Valentines... and in that case we gave her a Silver Dollar. She had never had one before. (it was actually from my own coin collection, that I then 'gave' to her).

To make it fun and cute... I have sometimes sprinkled a little glitter around near her pillow (but not the glitter color she already has or she would know its her's.), and I got her a "tooth fairy" box, which places like Hallmark has or online too.

And, I tell my daughter that her Tooth Fairy is HER own tooth fairy.... (that way, if in school kids tell each other that "tooth fairies are fake" or "I got $25 from the Tooth Fairy" etc., then your child won't feel awkward about it.... and compare what she got or how she celebrates her tooth. Which is what happened in school to my Daughter...)

good luck,
Susan

We do the golden dollar coins most of the time. A few times he's received the bicolor 2euro coins (because tooth went from wiggle to out in a DAY and I didn't have time to make it to the bank!!! But I did happen to have euros)), and once he got a 100yen coin (similar situ with the Euros... ironically the Yen was from back when 100 yen was worth 70 cents... it's worth quite a bit more now).

He's just thrilled with his treasures. He keeps them in a special "tooth fairy money" jar. But then, he gets about $10 a week in allowance, so it's not the money that's special... it's the magic that's special.

I should add... one time he didn't get tooth fairy money, because we had a friend from the balkans visiting. In his family, you hold the tooth... make a wish... and throw it over your shoulder with your eyes shut. So one tooth was a "wishing tooth".

Some teeth come out quicker than others. Our daughter was eating strawberries and ate her first loose tooth! We wrote a note on a very small piece of paper for the tooth fairy, and put it in the little pocket of her little tooth fairy pillow. We also sprinkle gold "pixie dust" (glitter) from the window sill to the bed, but not on the bed, that glitter is bad if it gets in their eyes.

We just give her one dollar. Where we live the post office vending machines give gold dollar coins for change, so we use those. I heard one of her friends say she got $5, I thought that was a bit much. Just have fun and start your own tradition that you feel good about!!

You guys have some lucky kids! Growing up the Tooth Fairy was a complete disaster in our house. The problem was my little brother lost teeth before I did. He also swallowed the second one and we ended up in the ER. Then of course I went to the dentist who pulled my teeth because they were covering my adult ones. In the end, every single one of my baby teeth was pulled and shattered, my middle brother got paid the first time when he was 4 and didn't understand it and my baby brother was born with milk teeth which my middle brother decided were income potential. *headslap*

The tooth fairy in Arizona pays more than the one in Ohio too...we do coins, grandparents do bills. There is no right or wrong. It might take a while, and it might not pop out, could be hanging by a thread and might be a little uncomfortable. I had one kid who had a really hard time with loosing teeth, it drove her bananas. Just roll with it.

M.

i was wondering the same thing. a girl in my kids' class lost a tooth and her tooth fairy left 20 bucks
i think i will leave 10 bucks for each child for first tooth and then 5. the lady who gave the glitter idea. awesome. i will be doing that too. thanks

Ditto that the tooth will come out when it's ready. My daughter's teeth take forever (a month or two) to fall out once they're loose.

The Tooth Fairy left a special note on special paper plus $5 for the first tooth and $1 for each tooth after that. The note just said how special it is to lose your first tooth, how exciting it is because it's a sign that you're growing up and that she would hold on to them until my daughter was older and then she'd give them to my husband and me. (my daughter is extremely attached to her teeth - in fact she has two that she never put under the pillow, she doesn't want to let them go!)

Congrats to your little guy on his big milestone!

The going rate in our area is $5. Our son had to fill out a tooth book at school and that seemed to be consistent with what the other kids wrote about receiving.

We didn't do anything fancy. He was thrilled just to find the money under his pillow in the morning.

It depends on how hard he wriggles it. My son has had some that hung in there for 2 weeks and some that he lost in a few hours of noticing it was loose.

As for money, we give $1 per tooth. I make a fuss over the tooth, etc. but honestly, giving more money than that is just silly to me. It's not a birthday or Christmas- just a tooth!

I would say 50 cents is enough, then when they get a little older it goes up. I have girls, and I used to write fancy notes with curly cue letters and they loved that. Sometimes the tooth fairy got busy and forgot, so I would have to leave notes to myself to remember, then the next night I'd leave some extra money and extra special note.

Oh I remember the days. We had a special tooth fairy book and a little pillow with a pocket for the tooth.

We paid $5 a tooth and left a special note from the fairy.

My kids got $1. My son liked the money but my daughter prefered small gifts. I'd pick up something at the dollar store.

Funny story: My daughter went rummaging through my jewelry box where I kept their teeth. She found them and asked about them. I told her they were mine. She told me to put them under my pillow and I could make a lot of money. lol I wish.

Once my oldest son made a fake tooth for my youngest son to put under his pillow when he lost his real one. I still have it. Teeth are expensive now -- 15+ years ago ol' cheapskate me only gave my kids a quarter. And believe me, my kids remind me how cheap the tooth fairy was back then.

What great ideas you moms all have! Way to go!