Are you looking for new tooth fairy ideas for kids? Check out this list of the best kids tooth fairy tradtions around the world you need to know about!
This post about tooth fairy traditions around the world was written by family travel expert Marcie Cheung and contains affiliate links which means if you purchase something from one of my affiliate links, I may earn a small commission that goes back into maintaining this blog.
This post is sponsored by Delta Dental of Washington’s Tooth Fairy Experience. All opinions are my own.
Do you know how kids around the world celebrate losing their teeth? It’s fascinating to know the different tooth fairy traditions from around the world!
In this blog post, I’ll share some really cool tooth fairy traditions around the world that are fascinating. Plus, find out how you can meet a tooth fairy in real life and get a copy of a tooth fairy book that highlights how people celebrate the tooth fairy across the globe.
Keep scrolling to learn more about how kids worldwide celebrate the milestone of losing teeth.
You’ll be surprised by what you read below! The Tooth Fairy is celebrated all over Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and even Australia! Some cultures have very specific rituals for when children lose their first baby teeth, while others just want to give them something special as they grow up.
Find out which country has one of my favorite customs below. Scroll now to discover fun facts about celebrating losing your first baby teeth from countries worldwide.
Plus, find out where to get the cutest tooth fairy book!
Is the Tooth Fairy Real? FAQs
Did you know the tooth fairy visits each child about 20 times? That’s because kids have 20 baby teeth that will fall out over a few years. And she collects about 300,000 teeth each night! It’s no wonder she has her holiday. February 28th is National Tooth Fairy Day.
A lot of kids wonder what the tooth fairy does with all the teeth she collects. The consensus seems to be that she uses the pretty white teeth to build a castle for her fairy friends. But, the teeth that have cavities get thrown into a dark cave. So, if you want your teeth to be part of her beautiful castle, make sure to brush your teeth!
Sort of. There are a few phone apps that can capture the tooth fairy on camera as she collects teeth. There are also opportunities to see tooth fairies at local events.
Brief Tooth Fairy History
Are you curious about the tooth fairy tradition and legend among the young ones? It seems to have started in Europe a long time ago. Kids would bury their teeth in the garden outside so a new tooth would grow in its place.
As lifestyles changed and rural areas became bustling cities, the tradition also changed, and kids started burying their teeth under their pillows instead.
The modern-day American tooth fairy was first mentioned in September 1908 in the “Household Hints” column of the Chicago Daily Tribune. In the article, the author recommended that kids put their teeth under a pillow and that mothers replace them with a nickel.
In 1927, Esther Watkins Arnold wrote a play for kids called The Tooth Fairy, which made the tooth fairy a global phenomenon.
Although our version of the tooth fairy has only existed for about 113 years, people have been celebrating the loss of baby teeth for centuries.
The Vikings had a ritual where moms paid kids a “tooth fee” in exchange for their baby teeth. Scandinavian myths and poetry from as early as the 13th century describe this practice.
How Our Family Celebrates the Tooth Fairy for Kids
When my oldest son was 4 years old, he lost his first tooth in a freak hide-and-seek accident. I was not prepared. This meant I had to figure out the whole Tooth Fairy thing much sooner than expected.
Thankfully, my son wanted to keep his tooth around for a few days to look at it before putting it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. This bought me time to research Tooth Fairy traditions from around the world.
Part of the reason I wanted to write this blog post was to help other grown-ups figure out what to do when a child loses their first tooth and show some awesome resources I wish I had known about back then.
So, what’s our family’s tooth fairy tradition? Take a guess.
Since my son’s first experience was a bit traumatic, we ended up giving him some LEGO Batman Minifigures, a letter from the tooth fairy, and tooth fairy money.
This made sense for our family because my son watched this movie as his tooth was extracted at the dentist’s office. It was also one of his favorite movies. So, these toys are tied to his lost tooth experience.
He had a few lost teeth since then, and we no longer do the tooth fairy letters or give him extra gifts. He puts the tooth in a little container under his pillow, and the tooth fairy takes it and leaves him some cash.
Tooth Traditions Around the World
The Tooth Fairy in the United States of America
As most of you know, when kids lose teeth in the U.S., it’s customary to put the tooth under their pillow before bed. Or some people have special Tooth Pillows that have a pocket for the tooth or hang on a door.
Then, the kids eagerly woke up the next morning to see what she had left them.
Traditionally, the Tooth Fairy is female. She usually resembles Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. However, in movies like Tooth Fairy starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and The Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy is a burly guy.
American Tooth Fairy traditions are all about cash money! I remember when I lost a tooth as a kid, the Tooth Fairy left me a quarter hanging from a fishing line in the ceiling, so it looked like it was floating! It was quite memorable.
Some of my friends spray dollar bills with glitter to create special money that the Tooth Fairy leaves their children.
Additionally, some kids write letters to the tooth fairy, and she even writes them back.
Raton Perez in Spanish-speaking Countries
Have you ever heard of a Tooth RAT, aka El Raton de Los Dientes?
In Hispanic counties, including Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia, Raton Perez is a rat that collects baby teeth from children. In return, Perez leaves gifts (although it’s not always money).
One of the coolest stories I found about this is that sometimes, in Argentina, the kids leave the baby tooth in a glass of water. When Perez arrives, he drinks the water, takes the baby tooth, and leaves the gift in the glass for the child.
He’s very popular and there was an animated film detailing his story called El Ratón Pérez. Has that piqued your curiosity? Apparently, there’s a Ratoncito Pérez Museum in Madrid that may answer all your questions.
Tooth Mouse in Europe
In French-speaking countries, the rat becomes a little mouse called La Petite Souri. She’s featured in many children’s books.
In Italy, they have a small mouse called Topolino. And in Scotland, they celebrate a white fairy mouse who purchases children’s teeth with coins.
Alternative Tooth Fairy Traditions
Not all cultures celebrate a Tooth Fairy or Tooth Mouse.
In parts of Asia and India, children throw teeth from their bottom jar on the roof and teeth from their upper jaw on the floor. The thinking is that the new teeth will grow toward the tossed teeth.
And children try to throw in straight lines to ensure straight teeth.
In the Middle East, children throw their teeth toward the sun, hoping that the sunlight will help the new teeth grow faster. In Nepal, children bury their teeth in secret spots.
And in Malaysia, kids bury their baby teeth in the ground to return them to nature.
The most interesting tradition I’ve heard about takes place in Turkey. Parents there try to influence their offspring’s future career choices by burying teeth near important places.
So, burying a tooth near a hospital might help a child grow up to be a doctor. Or near a school, which might encourage the kid to pursue education. But the most popular place? Soccer fields!
Tooth Fairy Book: The Search for the World’s Greatest Smile
Whenever someone in our family has a loose tooth, we love reading Tooth Fairy books to start getting excited. While there are many books about the Tooth Fairy, we’re really loving The Search for the World’s Greatest Smile.
It’s one of the most inclusive Tooth Fairy books, which is something I look for when adding to our ever-growing library at home.
One of the best things about it is that you can download it for FREE. That’s right! Delta Dental of Washington’s Tooth Fairy Experience has made this cool book available for families free of charge.
Read the E-book for free HERE.
The Tooth Fairy Experience
Something really cool that Delta Dental of Washington has put together is The Tooth Fairy Experience.
They have Tooth Fairies representing different ethnicities available to give presentations at schools or visit kids at a local event. It’s a fun way to get kids excited about keeping their teeth nice and healthy.
Plus, they even have downloadable materials for families to easily talk to their kids about healthy dental hygiene.
Tooth Fairy Ideas Wrap-Up
I hope these tooth fairy traditions around the world inspire your own family tradition when it comes to celebrating the loss of baby teeth. Now you know what the tooth fairy is like in other countries as well as some other tooth traditions.
If you want a little more creative tooth fairy ideas or inspiration on how to celebrate this milestone, pick up our book, The Tooth Fairy’s Guide to Celebrating Baby Teeth! It includes tons of great information about what customs are going on all over the globe and even has tips from parents who have been through this process before that will make your child feel extra special during their big day.
Thankfully, my kids were suspicious of everything and asked so many questions that things like the Tooth Fairy, Santa, and the Easter Bunny, never stood a chance. We just gave them high-fives and told them they looked silly! That was all they needed.
Nice! Every kid is so different!
Italy here, and yes, we have the Topolino dei denti, which is a tiny mouse and I never put my teeth under the pillow always on my bedside table. This was so cute to read 😀
Oh how cool! I can’t believe I didn’t know about Topolino dei denti until this week!
This was so cool to read! Thanks for sharing. Tooth Mice sounds so weird to me lol!!! But the burying teeth for a push in the right career direction is a little sillier to me somehow lol 🙂
So many interesting world traditions!
When my kids lost teeth, they would normally put it under their pillows and the tooth fairy would come with either money or toys. It made the kids very excited to lose teeth and trips to the dentist a little bit easier haha.
Yes, I think any way of getting kids excited to keep their teeth clean and be okay with the tooth-losing concept is a winner!
I have Two Under Two so I haven’t reached that stage yet but I’m so excited for it. I’ll probably stick to the traditional Tooth Fairy.
You will have an exciting few years of Tooth Fairy flurries!
This was so cute! I had no idea about these traditions in other parts of the world. My kiddos are still a little young but I like the idea of leaving little toys instead of money.
We also tend to do toys instead of candy for Halloween. But, my kids enjoy sweets, too!
I love the different traditions you shared. Growing up, I put my tooth in a special pillow my mom made me. The tooth fairy didn’t take the tooth, but did leave a dollar. With inflation, I wonder what our kids will expect.
Not taking the tooth is also an interesting concept. Did you take the tooth out of the pillow? Or did you collect them in the pillow?
The teeth stayed in the pillow pocket through the years. It was cool when I was little, but as I got older the teeth were pretty gross 🙂
Oh how interesting! I’ve been seeing those pillows with monster faces and parents attach the teeth to the monster’s mouth. Now, THAT is pretty gross!
This is so interesting. While I do love our version of the tooth fairy in the US, I also like the idea of the tooth mouse. So cute!
Isn’t it a fun idea? I’d never heard of it before but it’s super popular!
How interesting…I never really think about how other places handle the tooth fairy.
I hadn’t either until my son had a lot of specific questions!
Wow, so interesting and nice to learn what traditions go on around the world! Luckily we haven’t had anyone lose their teeth yet, but I don’t want to be caught off guard like you did! I think my kids feel like the tooth fairy is another version of Santa where they get presents. I may just stick to glitter money or something because getting toys can be a pain. Great read regardless and thank you again for better preparing me!
I was totally caught off guard! I figured I would have a couple of years to come up with a good strategy. My son already had a classmate ask him if he got money for his tooth.
Our tooth fairy just usually forgets!
Haha! That will definitely be our Tooth Fairy in a few years 🙂
My middle daughter lost her first tooth by bumping her face too. Tooth fairy is stressful for me because my girls leave the tooth fairy notes asking them all kinds of questions. This means I have to creep in quietly grab the note and leave the money , write the fairies response and go back in again without waking them up. I think I’ve forgotten the tooth fairy at least once for every child and then had to write an elaborate note with an excuse.
Oh wow! I hadn’t even thought about notes! My son had a lot of questions for the Tooth Fairy and I told him I’d ask her. Then I reported back the next morning with her answers 🙂
I had no idea that there were other traditions when it came to the tooth fairy! This was a great read 🙂
I didn’t either! That’s what piqued my curiosity!
How nice to read about all the different tooth fairy traditions around the world! Our tooth fairy leaves $1, usually in coins. When I was a kid, I also got a quarter, like you. I figure the tooth fairy’s payout has increased due to inflation and cost of living here in Seattle. 😉
Haha! Yes, Seattle is quite an expensive city to live in! I’m thinking our Tooth Fairy will probably also leave $1.
My son had to get his first tooth pulled. We did the whole tooth fairy thing and he loved it. It almost made of the the fact the tooth had to be pulled.
YES! It’s been the silver lining of this situation!