When the magical day comes that your child loses their first tooth, the tooth fairy shows up on a whim — with a magical gift, of course.
Children all over the world follow the tradition of the give-and-return of teeth for cash, but times are changing, and so is the rate of money that young ones are receiving for their beloved teeth.
In a report from Delta Dental, kids in the Midwest typically receive an average of $4.29 a tooth, an increase of $.61 from the last year, but it’s the second lowest bill for regions across the US.
In the West, kids receive an average $4.08, but in the Northeast kids are averaging about $7.36 per lost tooth. Meanwhile, Southern children receive an average of $5.77 dollars each tooth fairy visit.
Why is the Tooth Fairy giving so much?
The big determining factors for the tooth fairy rate comes down to a few things: The age of the child, how many teeth they have lost and the decision of the fairy.
Nearly 31% of parents said that their child’s age sets the value that they pay per tooth, but as kids lose more teeth, the value (and pay) begins to drop.
Colgate shows that parents admit to paying the most amount of money for the first tooth that is lost, but about two-in-five of the parents that pay up stick between at least five dollars for the teeth.
Some third-variable factors come up in the monetary decision for how much to pay as the tooth fairy though, too. Around 46% of parents said that the amount of money they leave for the Tooth Fairy is dependent on the spare cash they have in their purse — so, it might not be so random after all.
If you are guilty of poor planning for the Tooth Fairy’s trip to visit your child, make sure you pack a tooth fairy kit ahead of time. Colgate has a list of tips and items to know ahead of time in order to make your child’s fairy experience meaningful.
Some of these suggestions are to leave gifts, add notes from the fairy, create a DIY tooth fairy box, or leave behind traces of the fairy’s presence.
Happy fairy-ing!
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