Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Birthday Gift Ideas for Multiples

Being a twin, triplet, or more is fun. However, it also means you share EVERYTHING. Sometimes it is nice for multiples to have a little something that belongs just to them. For those of you who don't know what to give multiples for their birthday or Christmas, I am going to list some of my favorites!

-When the children were born, it was so much fun to open a gift with a set of 3 matching outfits. Do you know how much fun it is to match three sweet peas? We had a ball! I plan to one day shadow box their little preemie outfits that my friend's mother sent to us. J's mother sewed pink bows onto the girls' hats since the outfits were baby blue. They were so tiny that these outfits were their coming home outfits!

-Something for each individual child that costs you very little but is personalized will thrill them to DEATH. Personalized beach buckets, tin buckets for markers or crayons, water bottles, etc. We assigned each triplet a color, so they loved receiving a purple, pink or green gift in their color. Many of these gifts were Dollar Store finds gussied up with a paint pen. Just be creative!

-Multiples are used to sharing. They love sharing new puzzles, art supplies, DVD movies, board games, books, etc. One friend gave each child a Dr. Seuss book. They can be found for about $5 each at Target. A sweet inscription inside reminds us every year of their 2nd birthday. Target also offers $5 movies that make great gifts. Mothers of multiples are WELL AWARE of how EXPENSIVE it is to buy for three. You don't have to spend triple the money for our children's birthday gifts. If you normally spend $10 or $15 on a birthday gift, then divide that amount by 3 and give each of our children a $3-5 gift. They don't know the difference! We (mothers of multiples) are self-conscious when our birthday party costs you more than $10-15 in gifts! However, we SO appreciate the generosity of those that go above & beyond that!

-Gift certificates are always a great gift. You can give each child a $2 ice cream gift certificate or $5 to a movie. We love an activity!

-My friend, K, is a great artist. Check out www.kootiebug.com One year her son gave each of the triplets a great book on art that showed them how to draw a truck or a million designs you can make with your thumbprint. We still enjoy those books!

-N always gives the triplets a gift that beats the year before. She never ceases to amaze me!! When the triplets were 2, she gave them matching MONOGRAMMED chef's hats and aprons, each in a different color. At age 3, N gave each child their own beach chair. Talk about precious!! We still love those chairs 5 years later! At age 4 or 5, N gave the children the cutest bucket with a beaded handle. Inside was a $10 gift card for each child to go to the movies!!! That card took them to the only movie I've ever taken them to that wasn't a dollar movie!! We went to see Curious George as a family. N had even included yummy movie candy too. Precious. This year her family visited during Spring Break and filled our pool with incredible pool toys. N's ideas are endless!!

-As I've said before, we love to share. A gave our children a big game set that is portable for trips. My brother & his wife gave the children a see saw for the pool. We all love it and it is perfect to share!

-J always gives our children matching outfits or fun toys or books!

-One year A gave each triplet a book light which they still love! Little sis got one in her stocking this year!

-Another A friend gave the triplets gift certificates to go bowling and a gift card to have pizza next door at Two Guys!

-Puzzles and books are great!

-Baby doll strollers or playdough are fun for sharing

-We love our bubble machine or individual bottles of bubbles.

-Sidewalk chalk is fun to share

-3 jump ropes are cheap and easy!

-We always need goggles!

-One friend gave each triplet a kite and another gave them skates!

-Disposable cameras (can be $5 or less in a pack of 3) are a GREAT gift for young children

-New paper, markers, pencils, erasers, scissors, stickers, etc are fun

-Stationary (can be the cheap $1 stuff at Target)

5 comments:

HoodMama said...

Oh, you always have the best ideas and i come back to get tips from your old posts all the time. Fun catching up with you on your blog. Your running through the mall story is pure awesomeness.

Jessica Ryan said...

We are huge fans of gift certificates here! As they get older I find the children prefer gift cards to places like Target, Justice, Border's, etc... even Visa gift cards that may be used anywhere.

For the younger set (below 12) we like to give gift certificates to pottery painting places, beading places, favorite restaurants, etc.

I always give multiples their own gifts. I know that they are used to sharing, but when their interests are varied, I like to focus on each one's unique interest or talent.

Now can you give pointers on how to tell identical twins apart? C has two in his class, C and K... after 6 years I STILL cannot tell them apart! LOL

KK said...

What a great post! My daughter has 12 sets of twins in her grade!!!

Travelbugmom said...

GREAT ideas! Thanks so much!

The 5 Bickies said...

This is such great advice! I needed this 3 weeks ago when I had to buy birthday gifts for twins. They still dress alike and I was feeling like clothes wasn't the answer and just couldn't come up with anything. I got them each a game from target with gift slips so the could go and shop for what they really wanted!