Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Twin Advice: Shopping with Twins

Shop on-line. You can get almost anything on-line these days, and many sites offer free shipping. This allows you to do your shopping in bits and pieces as you have time, and everything is delivered straight to your door which is especially great for bulky or heavy items like diapers and formula. Depending on where you live, you may even be able to order groceries on-line for delivery or pick-up.

For days when a trip to the grocery store or Target with the whole crew cannot be avoided, here are some strategies:
-Be sure that you make a list in advance and prioritize your shopping.  You never know when a baby will poop or have a total meltdown, forcing you to cut your trip short.
-If you are just picking up a few things, use the double stroller and put your purchases in a basket or the cargo area of the stroller.
-Put one baby in the cart and one in a baby bjorn or other baby carrier. This is my personal favorite since it gives you a mostly empty cart while only having to maneuver one thing.
-My husband liked to use 2 carts with a kid in each cart.  This seems like a nightmare to me, but it worked for him (plus I think it got him a lot of attention from fellow shoppers).
-There is a window (after the babies are sitting up well and before they get too big) where you can actually put both children in the front of a regular cart.  The trick is to put them slightly angled towards the center with the outside leg of each baby in the leg hole on their side and the inside leg across the seat itself towards the other twin. The legs on the seat will overlap a bit. How long you can pull this off will depend on how big your twins are and how tolerant they are of being squished together in this position.
-When the babies are sitting up well, warehouse stores (Sams, Costco) often have extra wide carts with room for 2 children to fit in the front portion.
-For toddlers/preschoolers, many stores have special carts (often in fun shapes like rockets or cars) that are made for 2 kids.

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