Randi is a registered nurse living in suburban Philadelphia who works in emergency medicine and has experience with medical/surgical nursing and pediatrics. She and husband Steve welcomed their twins, Gavin and Gabriella, over a year ago. Learning about their experiences raising twins should be a great help to anyone facing the parenting of multiples or even JUST ONE at a time!
Holiday shopping, whether you like it or not, inevitably means hitting some stores. Picture moms with their babies: hauling through the mall with a stroller, diaper bag, coats, and whatever purchases they may have collected along the way. Now multiply this by thousands and the mall, or any store, seems a pretty daunting place. If that’s not bad enough, try doing it with twins! Double stroller, a set of babies, diaper bag, purchases, shoes flying, kicking, hitting and eye poking.
Oh the holidays are wonderful!
But you don’t have to avoid shopping altogether. Some quick tips can make the process of shopping with two sidekicks a bit smoother.
First things first. If possible, do some of your shopping online. Online shopping can be limited to naptime where you can actually use a brain cell to decide on proper sizes, appropriate aged gifts, and your gift receivers’ wish lists. That way your 80 year old grandmother doesn’t end up with a pair of hip hugger tight jeans and your 4 year old niece doesn’t rip off the paper to find teething rings; or vice versa. It may cost you a few dollars here and there for shipping, but often shipping is free around the holidays and every mother knows that sanity can be measured in dollars and cents.
Second, go with an accomplice. This can be anyone large enough and mature enough to hold, feed, change, assist, or simply occupy a child. To be able to do this for two children is ideal. That way instead of standing in line with your double stroller wedged into the tiny aisle and six people trying to get past, you can have your accomplice walking them through the main aisles where there is more space. And yes, if you attempt shopping by yourself there will be stores where the dimensions of a double stroller were just not considered. You will not be able to shop in those stores without an accomplice. (On my last shopping trip I found that the greatest percentage of stores that did not fit a double stroller were kids’ stores- how ironic.)
If you find that you must do some of your holiday shopping by yourself with your beloved twins then my recommendation is to be VERY prepared. Go after naptime and after lunch time. Have snacks, cups, and toys. Be prepared for sibling fights; and realize that at some point you may just have to leave. My goal is to keep my shopping trip to about 1-1 ½ hours long. While my twins are very good stroller riders, after an hour and a half Gavin takes off his own shoes and socks then starts taking off Gabi’s shoes. There is wiggling, whining, crying, punches thrown, and all kinds of mayhem. And a huge piece of advice- never let one child out of the stroller. Then the other will want to come out and you will never get either of them back in again. Also, do your most important tasks first because you may not make it to the end of your list.
Don’t wait until the last minute to do your shopping. Your increased stress level will attack the kids and your ability to get things done will diminish as the calendar days drop off. You don’t want to be that crazy lady carting two kids plus double STUFF through the mall while she’s screaming at herself and her children. Though this scene may cause shoppers to part for you making it easier to push your double stroller, stuff, and last minute packages through the store.
In the end, all of your holiday shopping will most likely get done. Even if your family and friends don’t like their gifts, hopefully that’s due to your poor taste and not to lack of trying. But if they are good friends and family, they will tell you they love it and quietly hope you put a gift receipt inside the box. After all of the shopping stress, sip a glass of eggnog, put your feet up, and wait until it’s time to clean up all the wrapping paper- cause everyone knows that the mother of twins doesn’t get to relax for too long. I personally wouldn’t have it any other way. Happy Holidays to everyone!
Please share your holiday experiences.
