When I was a little kid, I got a dime from the tooth fairy for my baby teeth. I was thrilled because I could buy a comic book, or two candy bars (only one if I wanted an almond joy or mounds). I was rich beyond words.
If I happened to receive a dollar bill in a birthday card (that only cost 39 cents), I was really over the top. TEN comic books, or a burger and milkshake with money left over. Or, a few years later, a tube of lipstick or a bottle of nail polish,with change, or a movie with popcorn and some left for a treat afterwards. Even three or four gallons of gas depending on whether we needed regular or premium. The world was endless with simply a dollar in an envelope.
My kids’ teeth were worth a quarter, and the birthday dollar was two or maybe $5 if given by a grandparent, and the card was up to a dollar. Comic books had risen to 25 cents, and movies were more than a dollar admission. The accompanying childhood frills: match book cars, felt-tip pens, name brand sneakers; brought the tally up considerably from my paltry burger and shake or Archie comic book.
By the time the granddaughters came along, the tooth fairy drove around in an armored car and birthday cards sprouted $10 and sometimes $20 for trinkets. A movie was $5 and a nobody read comic books any more. Candy bars were nearly a dollar and the card itself was at least $4.95. Electronic gadgets needed a couple of birthday cards to maintain and/or supplement and gasoline was out of sight.
This topic came up recently when we were in Idaho. My great-nephew (middle sister’s grandson) had just graduated from high school, and was leaving immediately for an organized educational trip to Peru. (Lucky Kid!) and I decided to give him a monetary gift because we were there. This is an 18-year-old kid who I have seen maybe five times in his life. We have never had a conversation beyond “How are you” and I’m sure he identifies me as “one of the old aunts.” But his grandma had told me about his saving for the trip and how much he’d worked to be able to make the trip so I felt inclined to help just because.
I gave him $50, all the cash I had (which is another discussion. Who carries cash anymore? And why not?) but felt like I should have given him twice that. Unfortunately, we were not going to see him again and we don’t do electronic transfer. (I know, old people stuff.) So $50 it was. And he was happy, or at least acted like he was.
But I thought back to similar gifts to our kids, and to various friends’ kids years ago. Five dollars in a card was met with big smiles. It wasn’t intended to fund a trip or buy anything big, but instead to enjoy a movie or buy a new notebook or maybe add to the stash for a new pair of jeans or the latest new toy.
For the granddaughters, we had started the practice of giving them a dollar for each year old to spend as they pleased, plus a savings bond that would be mature by the time they had graduated high school. They were always happy because they could plan what they wanted and, of course, as they got older they could be more and more extravagant. And we gave them the bonds when they graduated and they cashed them in as needed. We didn’t ask what they used them for. In fact #5 still has a couple uncashed but she has a new baby so I’m sure they’ll find good use.
In my tooth fairy days the birthday dollar was precious because I didn’t often have money that was mine to spend as I pleased. I didn’t know, or understand that that dollar was probably as difficult to come by as is $20 today, maybe more so. It certainly had better purchasing power, at least for a child.
But the Peru trip was fun Nephew reports. He’d like to go back someday. I hope the $50 gift helped, if only to fund an extra souvenir or maybe a fun, unplanned tour. It was given with thoughts of being “mad money,” which is always meant to be used extravagantly.
And the days of 28-cent gasoline and 25-cent birthday cards are right up there with the tooth fairy, I’m afraid: A thing of the far past in childhood memories.
