During the ‘Teeth’ exhibition, families shared their letters to the Tooth Fairy. Children have lots of questions about who the Tooth Fairy is, what the Fairy does with all the collected teeth and (most urgently) whether the Fairy will still leave a coin if the tooth has gone missing.
In pictures
Tooth Fairy Letter, Caroline. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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Caroline found this recently at her parents’ house. She had written to the fairies because her tooth had come out and she’d swallowed it and was worried that she wasn’t going to get paid by them! The letter was from some time in the mid-1980s and she was probably about seven or eight.
Tooth Fairy Letter, Libby. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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Should Libby (aged nine) get double the normal amount from the Tooth Fairy for losing a molar on her birthday?
Tooth Fairy Letter, Grace. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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Grace is six and has had a wobbly tooth for six weeks. She longed for the Tooth Fairy to come and had many detailed discussions with her relatives about her name, age and clothes. The day her tooth finally came out, she immediately wrote this letter and set her room out ready for the long-awaited arrival.
Tooth Fairy Letter, Martha. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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When losing tooth number eight, Martha (aged seven) wanted to keep it. For some reason, she changed her mind and wrote this note, which translates from Danish to English as: “I think you should just take it.”
Tooth Fairy Envelope. © Elizabeth, aged 7. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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Here is the envelope – ripped open top and side with excitement – that delivered Elizabeth’s letter from the ‘Fairy Tooth Service’.
Tooth Fairy Letter.
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Elizabeth remembers the thrill she felt at seven when the letter arrived for her: “This was my first ever official letter in the post, and I have kept it to mark the occasion. I recall being most excited about receiving it.”
Source: Florence (8) and Molly (4).
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Sisters Florence (eight) and Molly (four) wrote this song in reply to a letter left by the Tooth Fairy while collecting a tooth. Their mother adds: “I have kept it hidden (so that they did not accidentally find it) for over ten years.”
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Freya, aged 5. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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Five-year-old Freya directs the Tooth Fairy to the likely final destination of her tooth: “I lost my first tooth while eating and swallowed it. I left this letter under my pillow, to make sure the Tooth Fairy found the tooth.”
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Eleanor, aged 7. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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Seven-year-old Eleanor’s mum writes: “My daughter just lost her first tooth… and was so pleased that she wrote a thank-you note. Unfortunately, the Tooth Fairy wasn’t expecting it, so it was still under her pillow the next morning.”
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Raife, aged 6. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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Raife, age six, worries that the Tooth Fairy will never find his house or will cause a disturbance if she does: “My son was very concerned that the Tooth Fairy would get lost on her way to our house, and that she would wake up his baby brother, hence the advice to ‘be quite please!’”
Tooth Fairy Letter., © Rosie, aged 7.. Source: CC-BY..
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Rosie (seven) knows that her teacher collects snow globes and asks her mum if they can buy one for him. When her mum says no, she asks the Tooth Fairy instead. Her mum writes: “At 9pm I found myself making a snow globe using a glass jar and glitter and some borrowed stickers. The next day, Rosie told me she can’t give it to her teacher because it has pink stickers, so next time she’s going to ask for another one but make it clear it needs to be blue.”
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Elizabeth, aged 6. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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Elizabeth remembers two reasons she loved visits from the Tooth Fairy at age six: “Not just because of the shiny 20p piece in return for the tooth, but because I would always receive a magical letter from her too, each word written with reversed letters, which meant I had to use a mirror to read it!”
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Ralph, aged 5.
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Sometimes it’s best to stick with the facts. Ralph was five when, in the middle of family movie night, his first loose tooth popped out of his mouth and across the room. His mum explains: “We scrambled around for it and suddenly Ralph proudly proclaimed, ‘My tooth, my tooth!’ It was a piece of popcorn. Eventually his sister found it and he wrote his letter.”
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Hugo, aged 7.
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Not all children adore the Tooth Fairy and want to know all about them. Hugo's mum explains that her seven-year-old son was miffed that in order to get money for his treasured tooth, he’d have to relinquish it. He hedged his bets though, and the other side of the note reads: “I epprishiate the £1 coin.”
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Jessica, aged 7.
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When Martin lost his first tooth, aged five, his big sister Jessica had lots of questions about what it’s like to be the Tooth Fairy!
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Jonty, aged 7.
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Jonty, aged seven, wrote this letter after the Tooth Fairy ‘forgot’ to leave money under his pillow two nights in a row. His mother explains, “He doesn’t have a lot of patience at the best of times and the Tooth Fairy’s apparent tardiness made him really cross: ‘TAKE THE ENVELOPE!’”
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Oona Lovelace Morrison, aged 5.
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Oona’s dad explains this plea from his little girl, written when she was five: “I found this plea under my girl’s pillow in November 2014. Note: Oona is not offering money back. The Fairy is meant to take a two-quid loss in good cheer, grateful for fleeting proximity to a few of the Best Girl’s pearly whites. Nothing doing.“
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Jacob, aged 6.
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Six-year-old Jacob’s thought processes flow colourfully down the page of his letter: he explains the absence of his tooth, then negotiates payment (making sure that the Tooth Fairy knows where to find him!). Finally, he ponders about how the magic works.
Tooth Fairy Letter. © James, aged 6.
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James, aged six, feels very responsible that he has no tooth for the Tooth Fairy to collect, so he makes sure she knows what happened.
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Calli, aged 7.
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Calli, aged seven, has a Tooth Fairy tale for the 21st century. She was traumatised one morning to discover that the Tooth Fairy had inadvertently left her a fake £1 coin. This, of course, had to be sent back immediately with a letter to the Tooth Fairy, who communicated her heartfelt apologies via email from a special Tooth Fairy email address. This led to a preoccupation with payment for the next few teeth and the modest proposal to accept payment via card.
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Tilly, aged 7.
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Tilly, who is seven, wrote delightedly to the Tooth Fairy (when she was supposed to be going to sleep) about how exciting it is to lose a tooth in school. She has lots of questions about the Tooth Fairy’s friends and family.
Tooth Fairy Letter. © Xanthe, aged 6.
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Xanthe, aged six, promises that she can keep a secret and encourages the Tooth Fairy to reveal themselves, leaving a special frame ready for a picture.