What’s the going rate for the Tooth Fairy, and should it be adjusted for inflation?

The Tooth Fairy gave Bluey five bucks in the episode Markets because “that’s what she left all of Bluey’s friends”, but inflation has ruined enough – let’s cap it at $2.

As if there weren’t enough magical creatures visiting my home over Easter, I recently found myself pondering what the going rate was for the Tooth Fairy.

When I was a child in the early to mid-’90s, it was $2 per tooth, so $40 for the full set of 20 baby teeth.

How much should the Tooth Fairy pay in 2025?Credit: File Image

Applying inflation, we’re approaching $5 per tooth today, or $100 in total.

I know you could buy a lot of lollies with $2 at the school tuckshop a few decades ago, but tuckshops are going healthy, and the logic of spending tooth money on sugar is flawed anyway.

There’s something simple and magical about the Tooth Fairy leaving a gold coin rather than a note, and as a colleague pointed out, a coin works better in a glass of water, which was the tradition in his house rather than under a pillow.

I asked some more adults and was told varying rates ranging from 10¢ in the ’60s to the common response of $1 or $2, with the occasional $5.

After hearing the Tooth Fairy gave former treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s five-year-old $20 in 2022, I fear for the nation’s future financial stability if this rampant inflation persists.

Our Tooth Fairy settled on $2, but I discovered at the end of the first school day of term two, she gave one of my child’s classmates $5, and another $6.

It was time to consult the experts.

Professor Louisa Coglan, from Queensland University of Technology’s School of Economics and Finance, said the tooth market dated back to the Middle Ages, but its recent history revealed it had fractured, with significant global price discrepancies.

The Prince and Princess of Wales must have been raiding the piggy bank recently for son Louis, who celebrated his seventh birthday last week minus a few teeth.Credit: Josh Shinner

“For instance, in Switzerland, a first tooth fetches the equivalent of just under $12, while in the US, it is around $10 – all prices are in Australian dollars at 2025 values,” she said.

Coglan said it made perfect economic sense for BIG Tooth Fairy to proactively adjust the Australian first-tooth price, but the challenge was shifting those mum and dad buyers wedded to the gold-coin tradition to a price better aligned with the current global value.

“BIG Tooth Fairy’s ‘alliance’ with Bluey (adored by their key demographic – genius!) is a classic behavioural economics move, using starting-point bias to shift the market price to $5,” Coglan said.

She also said my five-year-old was an economist in the making.

“They have checked the data with their classmates and reaffirmed the price for future tooth losses with you,” she said.

“I can consult with my legal colleagues, but it appears [your child] has established the groundwork for a verbal contract, or at least the minimum expectation of a price between $5 to $6 per tooth.

“Be cautious, as you do not want to be accused of ‘tooth theft’ if you pay below that rate.”

Ayesha Scott, senior lecturer in finance and financial planning at Griffith University, said the going rate was a tough question for families, and no Tooth Fairy wanted to set an unsustainable precedent.

“While some families decide on a note, versus the traditional coin, the Royal Australian Mint includes a $2 coin in their 2025 Tooth Fairy Kit, and anecdotal evidence – a cursory look at social media – suggests $2 remains a popular choice,” she said.

On the question of how to explain the different prices, Scott said it was “possible that there is more than one Tooth Fairy”.

“If this is the case, it is reasonable for parents to explain to their child that different amounts of money likely depend on a range of factors unique to their own situation,” she said.

In our increasingly cashless society, Scott said the Tooth Fairy may enjoy going cashless for convenience, but this would vary between households and the age of the child, including if they had a bank account.

“It is possible that some parents may err on the side of caution, opting to do a last-minute dash to get change to avoid trapping themselves in a $50 per tooth cycle of doom (if that’s the only cash they have at home), or keeping aside a piggy bank to raid once the teeth start wobbling,” she said.

While I’m convinced $2 is perfectly adequate for a five-year-old who doesn’t get pocket money, doesn’t particularly have anything he needs or wants to buy, and has earned the cash only by virtue of the ageing process, I also don’t want him to feel ripped off.

Bluey’s mum, Chilli, is right to explain the social pressures to match other families.

Please join me and keep the gold-coin tradition alive.

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