The tooth fairy recently paid her fifth visit to our home. She almost overlooked our house. But she's light on her tiny feet and Eight didn't even detect her presence as she tucked five gold dollar coins into his Tooth Fairy pillow. Eight was wide awake on our bed, pouting that the tooth fairy forgot about him. And somehow, somehow, that fantastical fairy came and went as quickly as a sneeze.
"How did she do that!" he asked. "She must be so small."
"Maybe the size of 'The Littles.' Maybe she comes through the power outlets," I replied, leaving Eight to ponder how the tooth fairy made it to his room.
I'm fond of checking out all the cool tooth fairy ideas and traditions that parents are creating. Back in my Shine days, I was obsessed with tooth fairy traditions because my oh my, we have some very crafty, very sophisticated tooth fairies. And all of them? Very easy to implement -- trust me, our Tooth Fairy has tried a few -- and super cute.
If your kid is about to lose a first tooth, you really should take some time to think about what type of Tooth Fairy tradition your family is going to follow because it truly is a thing of magic. Some thoughts for you:
- Go old school. If you want to keep the tradition simple and mellow, keep a supply of teeny, tiny envelopes on hand. When your child looses a tooth, write the date and tooth number on the envelope, place the tooth inside and seal it up. Let your child place this envelope in his/her spot of choice for the Tooth Fairy to retrieve. Encourage places that are open and easy to access because even though the Tooth Fairy is sneaky, she/he is tiny and has to move quickly.
- Money, money, money. How much does your Tooth Fairy leave for your child? Ours gives Eight five gold dollar coins. Apparently this is the average. When I posed this question on Shine last year, some Tooth Fairies were quite generous, ranging from five bucks for a molar to one or two bucks for a regular tooth.
If you're interested in starting a new tradition, there are some really adorable new products/crafty ideas worth checking out. Two of my favorite crafty ones are:
Tooth Fairy Pouches with instructions by The Purl Bee. I love the idea of making a batch of these little baggies for each tooth. Also? You're making it easy for the Tooth Fairy to preserve that tooth for later days. Two things to note: One...The Purl Bee's instructions require that you sew the felt together. I'm gonna share a secret with you: You don't have to sew. Just use fabric glue or 1/2" fusible webbing to adhere the sides/seams and the tooth to the front. Two...Use a fabric pen to write the name/date/tooth number on the bag. Because the Tooth Fairy sometimes has a super bad memory when he/she looks back on those pouches.
The Tooth Fairy Jar with instructions via Lost Button Studio. We tried this one out. You put your kid's tooth in a small glass filled water. The next morning, the tooth is gone, the jar is filled with colored water and sparkles...and lovely coins. This Tooth Fairy travels with her colored, coin-filled jars so she can replace the tooth-filled ones with her treat.
As far as new products go, I've seen lots of cute pillows and tooth boxes. But my favorite concepts, as a whole, are The Official Tooth Fairy Kit and The Secret Tooth Fairy Club.
I have some serious love for this Official Tooth Fairy Kit.* It's definitely a memory maker. I dig the formality of the "certificates" that mom or dad can fill out, but I especially love the tiny envelope that is attached to the certificate just below the super official chart of teeth so that you can color in/cross off which tooth was lost. So cute! The rest is icing. The kit sells for US$16 and comes with a nice bag for the certificate. The down side is that you have to order more certificates. So if you go this route, just go the 10-pack route for forty bucks. Or I guess you could come up with your own crafty ways to deal with this.
The Secret Tooth Fairy Club* is equally adorable. I dig that it comes with a simple, reusable tooth pouch that is left out for the Tooth Fairy. In return, the Tooth Fairy leaves a letter in a folded card and includes a cute poem that specifically mentions the number of the tooth lost. Love that. The card has a little pocket for the Tooth Fairy to leave his or her treat. And the Tooth Fairy can either be girl or a boy, in case your kid cares about that sort of thing. The kit is US$35, and I dig that the one kit takes you through one full round of lost teeth.
As for casa crazedparent, we've tried the Tooth Fairy Jar but Eight prefers a simple cross-stitched Tooth Fairy Pillow that his Nana made many, many moons ago. For Q., we'll either use the Tooth Fairy Pouches or one of these kits (unless something new comes along in the next few years!)
What about you? What are your tooth fairy traditions?
*The Secret Tooth Fairy Club and the Official Tooth Fairy Kit sent me copies of their products to review. These products are not for keeps! I'll be sending them back.
