One common concern that most twin parents hold is – ‘do we need to buy double of everything for twins?’ 

Preparing for twins is surely a monumental task, but the good news is you don’t really need to buy double of everything for twins. Honestly as a new parent it’s tough to control this urge to buy everything for kids – right from matching clothes to the best of toys. And there are  loads of options in market that will make you go ‘awww’. But it’s best to think about it rationally and stick to stuff based on practical usage.

There are a few basic things that you will have to buy two each – like two car seats, two baby carriers, two feeding bottles, two baby beddings, two high/booster chairs, etc mainly because they cannot share them for safety reasons. However there are a lot of things that do not really require double investment on your part.

Here is a quick list of those items:

1. Play mat/Baby Gym – These are quite engaging for little ones, especially if that have hanging toys and bright colours. But you don’t really need two of the same for your twins. From experience I can say infants do not play all day long. Infact I would find myself using this mat only for half an hour a day or so. So it’s wise to invest in just one and place the babies one by one on the same.

2. Rocker/Bouncer – Rockers/Boucers are bulky and expensive. I bought two and realised they are space consuming too. They are surely useful especially in the first six months but do you really require two of them. May be just think of your requirement and then invest in them. Once my kids started crawling, they didn’t like to stay in the rocker and even if I put them in the same it was risky as they would climb/crawl out of that on their own. Now thinking in retrospect I feel I could have invested in only one of them and placed the babies one-by-one or may be placed one in the rocker and other in the playmat.

3. Bath Tub – For young babies, you’ll mostly be giving them bath one by one, so you wouldn’t require two separate bath tubs.

4. Clothes – It’s cute to dress up your twins in similiar matching clothes but let’s be practical, in those initial months we are literally changing baby clothes every hour or so. May be you can buy one or two pair of such matching clothes, for rest go easy and invest only in the basic stuff.

5. Diaper Bag – You are surely going to carry twice as much stuff in the diaper bag for your twins, but instead of going for two bags, go for one big and spacious one. May be a larger backpack or a cross body one would serve the purpose.

6. Toys – Young babies do not really play much with toys. They are rather more interested in key chains, cardboard boxes etc. So hands-me-down or thrift stores are a great option for them. Also buy each type of toy in single quantity. This way they will get a lot of variety to enjoy.

One main thing that I have learnt with twins is ‘less is more’. It not just helps to save money, but also a lot of space in the house. As kids grow, we get to know more about their likings so it’s easy to choose which items to buy double. But in the initial few months, it’s only best to stick to the basic and essential stuff. Now my twins are 3 years old and have different interests, so I get things as per their choice. Apart from two tricycles (that we bought for them a year ago), all other toys/games/books/etc are bought as per their choice (in single quantity). This way they get a good variety and also learn to share and play together.

Hope this above post helps you to decide if you need to buy double of everything for twins. Share below if you have some good tips to add here. Also feel free to share this post with someone who may find it helpful.

This post is a part of#BlogchatterA2Z Challenge on the alphabet ‘D’. You can find all 26 posts on ‘A to Z of Twin Parenting’ under the hashtag #themomsagaswrites on Facebook and Twitter