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| First outfit we bought for the twins. Note the coordination. |
When I first found out I was pregnant with twins, I remember stating quite emphatically, “I am not going to constantly dress them the same! That destroys their individuality. I want them to know they’re individuals and not just twins.”
How naive was I?
Once I grew used to the idea of twins, I said, “Okay, I’ll dress them the same occasionally, but most of the time I’ll dress them in coordinating outfits.” I assigned Thing 1 the color green and Thing 2 the color blue while they were still belly babies. I still use those colors to keep things like sippy cups straight, and when they wear coordinating outfits, whichever shirt has the most blue is Thing 2’s and whichever shirt has the most green is Thing 1’s.
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| baby shower clothes! |
And then my baby showers came. And the majority of the clothes I got–and I got a lot of clothes–were matching. And it was so darn cute. And so adorable. And I was so grateful for all those adorable outfits, and of course I wasn’t going to return and exchange them, and it turns out things are so much cuter when they come in twos. And I thought, “Okay, if people buy them outfits that are the same, I’ll dress them in them. But when buying clothes myself I’ll only buy coordinating outfits.”
Then the twins were born. And I started buying clothes for them. And I discovered that while it’s easy to buy two of the same item, it’s really hard to find two items that coordinate. So I ended up buying a lot of the same clothes despite my lofty declarations months earlier. And you know what? I’m okay with that.
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| more baby shower clothes |
Now the twins are 20 months old, and at least half the week they wear the same outfit–same shirt, same pants, same shoes, same jacket. It’s just easier to grab two of the same thing. And guess what? It hasn’t killed their individuality. They haven’t become clones of each other because they dress the same. They don’t even notice they’re dressed the same. They still have distinctly different personalities, and I don’t think I’m a bad mom because they wear the same clothes.
When buying clothes, I still try to buy them coordinating outfits, but that’s more so I’ll have a greater variety of outfits to pick from if I ever have a singleton boy down the road. If it’s taking too much time or proving too hard to find coordinating shirts, then I buy two of the same. Thing 1 and Thing 2 also get lots of clothes from both sets of grandparents. Sometimes they buy the same, sometimes the buy different. And I really don’t care either way. We’re just grateful for the clothes.
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| Going home from the hospital outfits. Coordinating. |
Plus–and this is an evil little secret of mine–I really think it’s funny when I dress them the same and we go to family parties and people can’t tell them apart.
My weird quirk is I want them dressed all the same or all different. If they wear coordinating clothes, then their shirts, jackets, and pants all have to be different. If they’re dressed the same, then every item of clothing has to be the same. I’m weird like that.
So dress them the same or dress them different? I don’t think it really matters. Do whatever is easiest and most comfortable for you as the parent. Personally, I’m not going to worry about it one way or another until my twins are old enough to want to dress differently. Once that happens, they can make their own choices about clothes. Until then, I’ll keep dressing them the same most of the time.
Any of you twin moms out there want to weigh in on the matter? Do you dress your twins similar, different, or a combination of both like me?
TWIN MOM TIP: Don’t stress out about the similar-or-different aspect. Your twins don’t really care one way or the other when they’re little.
