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A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Part of what makes parenting so much fun is celebrating all the little milestones along the way—the first time baby rolls over, the first steps and, as recently happened in my household, the first lost tooth.

I wasn’t prepared for the whole tooth fairy thing until my daughter came home with a tooth ready to fall out. A bit of panic set in when I realized I didn’t know what the tooth fairy was up to these days (surely inflation has kicked in since I was a kid), and I had to get some sort of pillow or locket quick! Lucky for me, I have lots of people to ask about tooth fairy traditions. Here are a few of my favorite ideas that I’ve heard.

Tooth fairy must #1: The tooth “pillow.” If you are prepared ahead of time, you can pick up a super-cute personalized pillow like this one.

Because I could get it overnight—and it was a good thing I did—I picked up this Reed & Barton silver tooth fairy box. The design is quite brilliant, and I appreciated that there were instructions included that my daughter actually read before she put it under her pillow. The star on the string is meant to be left out from under the pillow so the tooth fairy can easily sneak in and pull the box out to claim her tooth.

 

Tooth fairy must #2. The money. The tooth fairy gets wildly creative with what she leaves. Some of the swag kids are getting these days: gold dollar coins, foreign money, new glow-in-the-dark electric tooth brushes and fun flossers, two dollar bills.

More tooth fairy magic! Some other things the tooth fairy is doing to make losing a tooth a little more magical:

1. Lots of fairy dust (glitter) under the pillow and all over the money
2. Tooth fairy letters and receipts for lost teeth
3. Sprinkle pepper around the tooth pillow so when the fairy flaps her wings, the pepper makes her sneeze and she drops coins
4. Leave the window cracked so the tooth fairy can get in and then sprinkle fairy dust on the sill overnight
5. Tooth fairy kits from the Office of the Tooth Fairy (pictured above) with official-looking certificates of deposit for lost teeth

Proof there is a tooth fairy. There are some fun sites like Capture the Magic where you can have some Photoshop fun to prove the tooth fairy actually came for a visit.

Our tooth fairy came with a trail of glitter and gold dollar coins jangling in her pockets, but I loved exploring all the things parents are doing to make this milestone special!

What special traditions do you have in your home?

Ross Neytiri

Wednesday 6th of March 2013

I'm still trying to decide if I'd like my boy to believe in the tooth fairy. I'll just cross the bridge when I get there.

Shai Virtuso

Thursday 28th of February 2013

Wow, the things we do to fool our kids. But let's admit it, it's really nice to have them believe in some things magical and wonderful.

phyllis

Sunday 3rd of March 2013

I agree. We know they're bound to find out the truth in time, but as long as we make them believe in magic, then we go to great lengths to do it. Not only does this make the kids happy, but it helps parents get a hold of their kids' childhood.

Kimmy Doraine

Tuesday 26th of February 2013

thank you so much for this link, Paula! Now I'm excited to have the tooth fairy visit our home too!

Amy @Making Life Whimsical

Thursday 21st of February 2013

Thank you for linking our Printable Tooth Fairy letter! Have a whimsical day!

Debbie

Thursday 21st of February 2013

My kids are grown, but the tooth fairy in our part of the world may have been let go and replaced by a new, better model. Many times she missed a night or two or three before she actually showed up for her trade. I think she may have been sleeping some on the job or something. We reported her to the fairy workers association but our kids didn't always get visited in a timely manner as it seems most are. So report yours if she is not doing her job in a timely manner.