Tooth fairy economics

[ooooohlala]

DD has lost her first tooth, and is strongly expecting a pound coin.

This was the going rate when I was a child, too. Back then, a quid could get you a comic or a small toy.

But I have no idea what DD could get for a pound! We don’t do regular pocket money - partly for this reason, getting anything meaningful (ie - not sweets which I don’t want her buying) needs more money than I want her to be in charge of at five.

So - should inflation raise the TF’s gifts, or should I just let her be excited by the idea of a pound without actually being able to buy much?

The pound is fine. When you are little its the magic not the amount. Im old enough for it to be much less than a pound and we used to save up for things...

We had £1 for first tooth, 50p for others except £2 for one taken out by the dentist.

They were all happy with that, although it was 10-20 years ago now.

We had £2 for first tooth and a pound thereafter

This is also the going rate from our tooth fairy.

It was 20p a tooth when I was a child!
My kids got £2 for the first tooth and £1 for subsequent teeth, when she they no longer believe in the tooth fairy.
My SIL is a primary teacher. She tells me the kids bring her their ten pound note to show her plus an elaborate letter from the tooth fairy!

My daughter has just lost her first tooth this week and I did £2. My husband thought this was too much and I should have done £1, but like you I got £1 as a child 30 years ago and it just didn’t seem enough!

Mine had the occasional IOU note left too!

I gave my son £5 for his first tooth but he didn’t lose it until he was 8 and had started to get worried something was wrong, so I wanted to make up for it.

Sad, I know.

It's not about the money, it's about the magic. Don't forget they lose 20 teeth. Shelling out £200 per child just for losing teeth is ridiculous.

She’ll get a letter too!

Spanner in the work, though, as there are no pound coins in the house. So our current choice is between a pile of silver coins, £20 (nope!) or an elaborate excuse in Fairy’s letter as to why she’ll have a pound tomorrow.

We used to get sixpence, but that would buy you a whole Mars Bar. 🐷

I think it was 10p or 50p early 70s which got you a lot of sweets and a comic.

I once completely forgot but the child had been a bugger going to bed and settling down to sleep. On the hoof "oh darling, because you were wide awake so late, you missed the tooth fairy's rota yesterday. The names only go on when the children are asleep".

Me too!

Don’t start with the letter writing shit. You’ll absolutely come to regret it.

£2 for first, £1 thereafter here too. Only time DD ever got a letter was when I had no cash in the house. Letter was basically gaslighting at its best - the tooth wasn't shiny enough, so the fairy would be back the next night when it has been thoroughly scrubbed. It did spur on good oral hygiene though so bit of a result.

I loved the letters I got from the tooth fairy!! She wrote them on tiny bits of paper in tiny writing, which I supposed avoided having to write anything lengthy. She wasn't stupid!

Top tip, if you can, is to save shiny pound coins as you get them until you have enough for each tooth, so you have the stash ready and don't have to scrabble about each time.

Congrats to your daughter on losing her first tooth!

It was 10p when I was a child in the early 80s
Most toy shops or supermarkets will have “pocket money” toys which you can get for £1

Mine get a pound, two for the first tooth. I encourage them to save them up. Ds knows that £7 gets him a lego comic, which i think is a good thing to learn.

£2 for the first, £1 for each other apart from the one the dentist had to pull (also £2) and the last one which cost me £5.

But DD had already some pocket money, we started at 4 with 50p/week and increased at each birthday by 50p.
She bought little things on days out, the odd ice cream when she had a bit more.
We saw it as an investment in learning to deal with cash.

We did £1 but we are past tooth fairy age now so may consider £2 if I was starting it out now

This sounds reasonable! Also a going rate from the TF in my sister's house. She doesn't add a letter though, there are short videos instead. My niece kept asking if the toof fairy has a TikTok or a Youtube channel, so my sister asks me to make short video clips instead.

Did you start a Tiktok page for her? That's just so cute 😍 How do you edit these videos, do you use the in-built filters that change your appearance?

It was 50p for me growing up in the 90s. You could just about get a chocolate bar for it. I'd say a quid is about the same nowadays.

For our 2, we did a fiver for the first tooth, then a pound for each one after that.

I used to get £1 in the 1980s but to be honest I don't remember ever specifically spending it on anything. I probably just saved them up in my piggy bank or something. Anyway, my DS is not at that stage yet, but if he had £1 to spend he would buy two sheets of 50p wrapping paper from the Corner Shop and spend a happy afternoon cutting out all the pictures on them and then demanding sellotape to stick them back together again.