10 Tooth Fairy Gifts You Can Get for Under $10

lost tooth

Growing up, the toothfairy gave me a quarter – one quarter, twenty five cents – when I lost a tooth. Did not matter which tooth it was, either. It was a quarter and nothing more. At the risk of aging myself (oh well, I’m turning 32 next month), the toothfairy was not cheap in those days. That was just the going rate. No one was trying to keep up with anyone else or look better than anyone else. They were just giving kids a quarter. Fast forward to last October when mine and my husband’s daughter lost her first tooth at the age of 6. It was loose. We saw this coming. Mrs. Toothfairy told Mr. Toothfairy to make sure that there was cash on him at all times since it could happen any day.

Long story short, it was like 6 weeks or something before she lost that tooth and while Mr. Toothfairy had cash on him at 8 that evening when she lost her tooth, he’d used all his small bills on things like valet and coffee and the like. The smallest bill the Toothfairy had that night was a $10. Add to that the fact that it was our last night in the house we built before we were married and welcomed any children, and we were busy finishing up the last of the packing. There was no time to go break that down. Our daughter got $10 from the toothfairy that night. The tooth she lost afterward gave her $2, just so you know.

With horror stories like that in mind (we did contemplate leaving a note for our daughter from the Toothfairy asking for change, too), there has to be a better way. We have four kids. At this rate, we’re going to go broke paying for teeth. So that’s why I find it intriguing that some people don’t leave cash; they leave little gifts. It might worth looking into, and each one is less than $10. The concept works for me because it means you have a stash of little treats and no reason to panic when a child emerges from the confines of bed time holding a tooth.

Notebook and pens

I don’t know about your kids, but mine love to color and draw. This is a great idea, especially since I can get multiple notebooks and pens for them at the dollar store for next to nothing. Everyone wins, and the bank remains intact.

Coloring book and crayons

This is another amazing gift you can pick up at the dollar store or Target for nothing that allows your kids to feel as if they have won the lottery. I cannot even remember the last time something excited my kids as much as something like this, and that includes the time we surprised them with a Power Wheels Escalade and a Corvette. Spoiled monsters.

Plastic jewelry

This is a huge winner in my house. The Target dollar bins at the front of the store are a treasure trove of stuff like this. We pick up Frozen rings and necklaces and everything in between and our kids adore this. They will play dress up all day long when they get something like this for any occasion.

A diary

At 7, our tooth-loser is currently in the diary phase of her life. She likes to write down her innermost thoughts and then show them to everyone in the vicinity. She likes to write down what she wants for Christmas or her birthday, how annoying her sister is and etc. This makes a great little gift for her, and I imagine many little girls of the same age.

Matchbox cars

If you have a boy, you might have a reason to stock up on Matchbox cars. They’re fun and they’re practical, and they provide hours of entertainment in an endless capacity. We love that kids can play with things like this and really enjoy what they have to offer. And they’ve not expensive.

Gardening tools

Here’s an idea perhaps you have not yet considered. My kids love to garden, and they love to get dirty with me planting flowers. We discovered, in the magic dollar bins at Target, that you can get little gloves and tools and gardening accessories. Our kids live for this stuff, and it’s a gift that keeps on giving if you really think about it.

Accessories

Headbands and hair clips and brushes and things of this nature make little girls so happy. Once again, allow me to recommend that you head straight to Target to the dollar bins and pick these up in bulk. My kids love them, and they frequently need them as they lose hair accessories like most of us lose actual hair.

Trains

Perfect for little boys, these are inexpensive and fun. You can pick up a handful for just a few dollars and divvy them out with each lost tooth over the course of the months in which they seem to fall out like no one’s business.

Action figures

Whether you have boys or girls, you can get action figures for just a few dollars that all kids love. My kids love girly action figures and boy action figures, because their princesses do need someone to save, you know. Kids love this stuff because it allows them to use their imagination, and we all know that they love small toys they can leave on the floor for everyone to step on so they can hear our cries of pain and torture. On second thought…

Spy gear

Now this is a huge hit. We found (Target dollar bin…I have an obsession) these cool spy pens, glasses and other accessories and gave them to our kids. They spent hours outside after that spying on the cat, the neighbor’s dog, each other, us, etc. it was pure bliss for us not hearing them scream our names repeatedly for something or another, so let me just state that this might be a favorite recommendation.

Photo by Guang Niu/Getty Images

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