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Tooth Fairy Ideas
Last Thursday, we were eating dinner when Lily announced that she had a tooth that was “super wiggly.” I figured she was exaggerating and was completely shocked when I watched her move her tooth back and forth with her tongue. YIKES! She wasn’t kidding! I knew it would only be a matter of days before we’d be expecting our very first visit from the Tooth Fairy (!!!!).
I had the tooth pillow, purchased a couple of years ago and I miraculously remembered where I had stored it.
But what else would be fun? Simple is key around here. But Lily has been waiting for a tooth fairy visit since she was about 2 (no, really), so I knew it would be fun to play it up a little, at least for the first tooth.
Then lo and behold, the day was upon us. On Saturday evening, Lily plucked that tooth out on her own. Commence the shrieking, yelling, celebrating. Bob and I were pretty excited too. ;) Actually, I was excited and then had a total mom moment and got all choked up and teary eyed as my kid reached yet another big milestone.
We got Lily to bed that night and it was finally time to put together a little Tooth Fairy magic!
So first up, a gold dollar. For subsequent teeth, the Tooth Fairy will leave $1 per tooth. We cashed in $25 at our bank for a roll of gold dollars. Our coins were pretty dirty so I used a jewelry cleaning cloth and they polished up like new!
Next, I wanted to make some shiny sparkly fairy-worthy glitter money. Several of my friends have made these over the years and it has always topped my list of Tooth Fairy 101 Must-Makes. This was surprisingly easy. I used Elmer’s spray adhesive (you could also use hair spray) and iridescent glitter.
I took a fairly crisp $5 bill (a $5 bonus for losing the first tooth) and laid it on a paper towel. I sprayed the front with adhesive, sprinkled glitter, dumped the excess glitter.
Then I repeated the process on the back and let the bill air dry for an hour or two.
The result? GLORIOUS. And MAGICAL.
Gold coin. Check. Glitter money. Check.
Tooth Fairy Receipts – DIY and Free Printables
I was ready to call it a night. Then, my eyes skimmed over this crazy cute idea for a printable tooth fairy receipt from The Larson Lingo. I had to make one! (Actually, I printed TWO copies – one went to Lily with her money, the second went into the bag with her tooth so that I can remember which one it is and what date she lost it. :)
To make your own receipt, simply open up a blank MS Word Doc. You can download the fake receipt font for free. Then I used this barcode generator to create a barcode (I used her initials, a (1) for the 1st tooth, and the date she lost the tooth).
Print the receipt and cut it down to a smaller size, similar to a real store receipt.
Free printable tooth fairy receipts
I also made up some printable tooth fairy receipts that you can use! There are three different designs to choose from. Our printable PDF contains all three of these designs, each on a different page. Print whichever one you want.
Get the printables: You can grab our printables right here. Simply enter your email address in the box and opt-in to receive our free newsletter. Check your inbox for this printable, which you will receive as a subscriber bonus.
The Tooth Fairy was ready to spread some magic!
I laid the receipt down, placed the dollar bill on top, followed by the coin. I rolled the whole thing up and tied it together with a piece of twine.
The little bundle fit perfectly in her tooth pillow, which she had hung on her bed post.
It probably won’t surprise you, but the next morning she was utterly THRILLED and there was no containing her excitement.
I’d love to hear – what does the Tooth Fairy bring to YOUR kids?
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I love the glitter money but I love the receipt even more!
Oh, that receipt is precious!
I love this!!! The receipt is the best! I would have never thought of this on my own.
This is the best! Thank you so much for sharing the awesome ideas. My daughter is going to be so excited (I already am)!
You’re welcome!!
I have had this post saved for two years now and finally get to put it to use! :) Dollar coin is ready. I had gold glitter for the money and the glitter came out a bit heavy…wish I’d had some that was finer and iridescent, but the kid is not going to care! :) The hair spray was super easy. Thanks for sharing!
Yay! So happy to hear that it was helpful!! :)
Apparently she was so excited to find it she was shaking!
Thank you for the fabulous idea! We were already using half dollars and two dollar bills (their uncle already collects silver eagles for them) but I am adding the receipt and bonus!
You’re very welcome!! :)
I believe this would be considered defacing legal currency. I don’t know if you can spend the money after you do this.
The glitter is fairly easy to brush off and the bill is not harmed. We actually kept ours and never tried spending it.
It’s been years since you’ve posted this, but we used your receipt idea last night for our daughter’s first lost tooth! It was an amazing experience this morning!
The glitter money seems like a cool idea in theory but not every store will take it. It can be considered “defaced” because the glue covered the entire bill and while it is see through it no longer feels like paper money. It feels more like plastic. That means that the bank machines that count money may not always treat it as such. So this is just a heads up to the parents out there.
Nothing worse than giving your child fairy money only to be told at the register that it can’t be taken as real money. We had that happen in a store I was at and the child looked heart broken. It was sad.