Tooth Fairy - Alternative to Money?

[olliepop]

My dd is only 4, but I have been thinking about visits from the Tooth Fairy. I think it will be a fun, whimsical tradition for us, however, I don't want to give money or toys.

Does anyone have any ideas of small things we could slip under her pillow instead?

A friend of mine told me that her mom used to handwrite a tiny note backwards and slip it under her pillow. When she woke up in the morning, she would have to decipher the note in the mirror. I thought that was cute. I'd probably use the cpu to do it though -- much easier.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

[kkeris]

My Dd is onyl 3, but this is what I plan to do- to take her tooth and put it in a really pretty milk tooth holder (I saw some selling at a shop few weeks ago, which gave me this idea) and slip that instead. Or how about a new cool toothbrush, or new flavoured toothpaste, or both? I like your mum's idea too, very cool imo!

[Adele_Mommy]

I know you said you didn't want toys, but for my dd we use Kelly dolls. They are small and cute and there are a lot of them. We keep them exclusively for from the tooth fairy. Each time she loses a tooth she gets one. They fit in the little box she puts her tooth in (we don't do the under-the-pillow thing).

[mamabeca]

I picked up some inexpensive things from Magic Cabin - also gemstones are a good option. My dd loved this from Magic Cabin, her bro broke it and now we know what she's getting in her stocking!

[UUMom]

Maybe peeps who do the tooth fairy thang do coins because kids like them,are starting to think about having their own money, and giving coins are waaaaaaaay cheaper and less fossil fuel consumptive than sending away for things from a catalog? :

A dime is all pretty and shiny...and only 10 cents.

[P-chan]

I've heard that the tooth fairy leaves a sprinkle of glittery dust over the pillow as she leaves....

I love the backwards note idea! [files it away for future tooth loss]

[indignantgirl]

Our tooth fairy always leaves a nice long poem about things that have been going on with ds, and this recent time she left a gemstone wrapped in silk, tied with hemp twine. She also tends to get a little crazy with the fairy dust (glitter).

ETA: The gemstone was from some costume jewelry my grandma picked up at a garage sale, the silk and hemp were from my sewing scrap-basket, the glitter was from an art kit and the poem I wrote. It was all free and convenient, but so magical and special for my ds. He keeps her gifts and poems in a silky bag that he hangs on the toyroom wall.

ETA again: Before he goes to bed on the night he pulls a tooth, we read a poem we found on waldorfhomeschoolers.com. It describes how the tooth fairy takes to tooth to some gnomes who use magical hammers to turn the tooth into a jewel, and then she brings it back to the child. It's a really sweet poem, and the little gifts from the tooth fairy are even more special since some gnomes magically created them from his baby teeth.

[olliepop]

Originally Posted by UUMom

Maybe peeps who do the tooth fairy thang do coins because kids like them,are starting to think about having their own money, and giving coins are waaaaaaaay cheaper and less fossil fuel consumptive than sending away for things from a catalog? :

A dime is all pretty and shiny...and only 10 cents.

10 cents? The going rate these days is $5. Hey, and even I got a quarter.

Maybe I'll just play it by ear and see what her hobby is at that time and get her one special thing pertaining to it. Maybe she'll like to crochet and I can get her a new needle or special yarn or something.

[Zach'smom]

Ds loves padlocks!!! Don't ask me why. He was convinced that the tooth fairy brought locks. And she did! He got a really neat red padlock that he could set his own secret password for the combination . Very useful.

[absinthe]

My daughter (who at 6 has yet to lose a tooth) tells me very authoritatively that "The tooth fairy brings books, Mommy, or jewelry!" I have no idea where that came from!

[UUMom]

Originally Posted by olliepop

10 cents? The going rate these days is $5. Hey, and even I got a quarter.

Maybe I'll just play it by ear and see what her hobby is at that time and get her one special thing pertaining to it. Maybe she'll like to crochet and I can get her a new needle or special yarn or something.

lol The toothfairy here just gave $3 in coins...and that was the most she ever brought. But the tooth was a trickster. It was loose for about a year.

[lisalou]

We have 3 books dd loves that have loose teeth involved -

1. Little Bear gets a whistle for his teeth b/c he lost his ability to whistle when the tooth came out.
2. Opal gets a shiny quarter in a Toot and Puddle book.
3. Sal gets a wish when she loses her tooth and gets an ice cream cone.

I thought 3 was a nice way to do things but then my mother so wisely pointed out dd could end up wishing for a pony and be very disappointed. We got money and wrote notes to the tooth fairy who also wrote extensive ones back. My mother was always good at that sort of stuff. You should have seen the Easter treasure hunts we went on. I hope to be half as good for dd. But I like the whistle thing or thinking of something small that relates somehow to the loss of the tooth for dd. For her part she's already told me the tooth fairy will bring her a whistle.

[mammastar2]

Dd gets pretty rocks (semi-precious, rose quartz, that kind of thing) in little cloth gift bags.