# Tooth fairy: what's the going rate? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174 "2005-04-01T03:24:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/41 "2005-04-02T03:30:46Z")
I got $2 in the mid-late 80’s, my little brothers get $5 today – but we live in New York, so, you know, cost of living and all. A few months ago the little one wound up getting $10, though. He had his tooth in an old pill bottle under his pillow. Once he was asleep, I got it out and replaced it with five singles, wrapped around the inside of the bottle. My mother got home from work late that night, checked to see if the Tooth Fairy had visited, and didn’t see the money wrapped around the sides – so she stuck a $5 bill in the middle. Evan was very excited about the windfall. ---
**Author:** ![jkirkman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@jkirkman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jkirkman)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/42 "2005-04-02T04:21:24Z")
I just throw how-ever many free quarters I have into it. 1 US , 2 US –whatever is around. Clanky coins are best–they are shiny and fun. Paper money? Why would I give my childen a paper IOU from someone 3 trillion dollars in debt? ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/43 "2005-04-02T07:17:40Z")
We’re cheapo schmeapos. We give each kid a quarter per tooth, no glitter or fairy dust. But my husband writes a personalized note for each tooth, prints it out in color-coded ink (each kid has her own color) in a tiny, italic font. Sometimes the girls ask daddy to pass on a question to the tooth fairy, and then of course the answer is in the note. Or else, they ask for a picture (of a unicorn, etc) and that’s printed on the note too. They really like that. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/44 "2005-04-02T13:31:47Z")
I got 1 silver dollar per tooth, which I foolishly spent as dollars. The tooth fairy should have included instructions. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/45 "2005-04-02T18:09:24Z")
> [@FaerieBeth](#): > > Next time, if you still think $1 is too low, pay a visit to the bank for some $2 bills. There are some still in circulation, although the banks make a habit of hanging on to them, it seems. > > Scroll down to the bottom for info on the $2 note from the [US Treasury](http://www.treas.gov/education/faq/currency/denominations.shtml) > > My kids loved getting that piece of paper money that they’d never seen before, and then, they’d get a trip to the bank to “change” it (or sometimes they’d just freak out some cashier at the Dollar Store. 😃 ) Actually, the $2 bill is still being printed and is in circulation just like all the other bills. The only reason you don’t see them is because people don’t use them, just like the golden dollar. You can go into your bank and ask for $2 bills and they’ll more than likely have them and also more than likely have new ones. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/46 "2005-04-02T19:01:14Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > Okay, I’ll be the cheapskate. My kids have always gotten a quarter, same as I did. My reasoning is that the kids don’t really understand the value of the money, they’re just thrilled that a real fairy came and left them a gift. Besides, quarters are shiny! Jeez, I’m glad I’m not the only person who thought a quarter was the frozen going-rate for teeth! I’m stunned at the amount of loot kids are getting these days. ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/47 "2005-04-02T21:07:42Z")
I remember getting a quarter when I was a kid growing up in the 70’s. I had one baby tooth that never fell out, though, and the adult tooth kind of grew in beside it. I had to have it pulled, and the “tooth fairy” gave me $10 for it. I was 19 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Kiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/48 "2005-04-03T03:36:39Z")
We did something completely different with both our kids, and neither of them have ever complained about it. For our daughter (who was a first grand-child on both sides of the family, and received far more money than she could really spend on a regular basis), the Tooth Fairy brought fancy polished/tumbled rocks. She thought they were WAY cooler than a quarter or dollar. For our son, who is a human metal detector and can’t leave a store without finding at least fifty cents in change on the floor, the Tooth Fairy brought unusual coins from other countries. (Not hard, since I lived in France for three years, and have a wallet-full of pre-Euro change. I also keep my eyes open for unusual but cheap coins at flea markets, etc.) We also did the envelope thing. The kids would get to decorate the envelope with their tooth, and put a date on it with their name. The Tooth Fairy would leave a new envelope with the present. I now have two collections of crayon-decorated envelopes, signed and dated, and I’m hoping that at least one of the sets will be worth something to someone someday. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/49 "2005-04-03T11:16:04Z")
When I was a kid, it was 1 tooth = 1 Star Wars Action Figure. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/50 "2005-04-03T11:27:06Z")
$5 in Manhattan? In my neighbourhood the ladies who lunch hand their nannies a $20 and tell them to slip it under the brat’s pillow… ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174/51 "2005-04-04T00:42:31Z")
When I was a kid (early 70s was losing-teeth age) it was a quarter. When our son got his first wiggly tooth, \*\*Dangerosa \*\*and I had a discussion about what the rate would be. We wanted it to be a single coin, so we chose golden dollars. My son, who has a pirate fixation, saw the first one and said “gleaming booty!” in surprise. That kid cracks me up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tooth-fairy-whats-the-going-rate/297174.md?page=2)