Twins and Gifts

Absolutely "no" to all of them except, "D."
Possibly "C."
But, only IF, you know they like that particular item.

But NO way, would I get one gift for them both to share. No matter how old they are, no matter if they are 3, or 33 years old.
No way just one gift, to share.

Twins are different people. I know one pair of twins, that get sick and tired of people reacting to them as "twins." They are totally different from each other.

D

Basically at this age their personalities and preferances are shinning thru, you should gift accordingly.

Esp as twins grow up it gets very tiresome to have A,B,C gifts. The twins in my family are 14 and have been expressing their discord about being treated as "one" or a packaged deal when they are individuals.

They are twins, but not the same person. I would do D.

I'm going to address each option.

A- 3 year olds are only interested in sharing for a very short time, and usually only when an adult is there facilitating. I wouldn't do this.

B- Are their personalities exactly the same? I wouldn't do this either. They are two different people.

C- This is a possibility if their personalities/tastes are similar, or you want to be able to tell whose toy belongs to whom.

D- This is probably the way I'd go. If they are close, they'll likely both end up playing together with the toys. So perhaps they don't get the same toy, but complimentary toys? Like play food and play cookware? Or one gets the sandbox and the other gets the sand and sand toys?

Twins in our family so I will advise:
C with each receiving a different doll (different hair or eye color and different clothes)
or D.

They are individuals and deserve to be treated as such, they shouldn't be expected to share a gift, and identical ones lend to confusion over which is who's. Clothing gets removed and the fighting begins.

I do completely different gifts.

3 year old girls might like:
Candyland game
Pretend food for a little kitchen (two diff. packages, one for each to open)
Playdough (divvy up into two gifts)
Sets of markers, crayons, stickers and paper... in two separate packages.

I think one gift to share would be better. Why? Because, sibs (twins or not) often squabble over toys. My sister has three boys, about 1.5-2 years apart, and she always prefers a family gift for the boys. Getting something they can use together makes it easier on the parent, and at three, they're just going to be happy to open up the packages. One package for each kid and they are fine.

B, but if they do like different things I might do C, so they wouldn't fight over them.

They are too young to play games or anything like that. Mom or Dad would be required to play with them each and every time they got them out> So I would hide them until they were in elementary school.

If you have money to spend you could do something they could play with outside, like a sand and water table from Walmart. Or some other Little Tykes toy that sits and is played with. A toy that is not picked up or ridden.

Walmart and places like Target carry a LOT of Little Tykes stuff.

You can shop by age and area online and get some great ideas. Then call around to places like Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, etc....and see if they have what you are looking for and compare prices too.

http://www.littletikes.com/kids-toys/

That is hard. Even siblings (non twins) fight over toys and i have noticed more moms buying 2 toys exactly the same (Bucky the pirate ship from Jake and the Neverland Pirates) for each children. I personally bought one Bucky and my 5 year old boy and 3 year old daughter share it.

I have also bought a toy to share for 2 kids (age 2 and 4). I spend more money than one gift. It was a stomp rocket and I bought extra rockets. I figured the boys would enjoy it together.

Are you close with the parents. That to me matters more. Do they have too many little cheap toys? Would one nicer item be better? They will be opening so many things I doubt the twins will tally who gave a shared gift vs an individual gift.

I have also bought twins similar outfits that were from the same line but were not exactly the same.

I have twins - identical or very, nearly similar. If you get totally different gifts, they will invariably fight for what the other has. At 3, they still haven't mastered the lets share and take turns concept.

The mother will thank you for just getting them both the same (or nearly same) gifts, I promise you!

A, b, c

EDIT: this is based on my twin nieces' preferences. They are mid20's & have shared their thoughts with me.

I'm not sure why 3 year old twins are being compared to adult twins... at 3, I'm pretty sure they're not thinking about what an injustice it is that they might not always be treat as individuals.

Anyway, just even knowing families with 2 kids of the same sex that are close in age, I would do 2 identical gifts. Now, when they're older and have clearly distinct, different interests, then I would do the different gifts, but not at 3 when they always want what the other one has. Keep it simple.

when my neighbors twins were young we went with C - out fits or toys that were the same thing just different colors/patterns/ doll w/ different clothes.. once they got older and had develops clear "tastes" in what they liked ex: one was a tom boy, one was a girly girl, we went with D ... being that they are only 3 I think option D they would end up either fighting over one or sharing both, its a tough call .. id say that option A is ok as long as its something they can both play with at the same time, and not one toy they would have to share

i have twins. even at 8 they still compare and they other's gift always seems best, per their words. so i say two identical gifts.
OR
if they are girls you could get one of those kits for bracelets, headbands etc that makes a few. that way they can share.

If you know what they like then that helps but with our twin grandsons we know some of what they like so buy accordingly. One got Buzz light year and one got Woody, Another time one got Mickey and one got Spiderman. It works great with them and they have all the other toys at home to share so it's nice to have a personal gift that is what they individually like. I would say C or D either one. Some kids would like A depending on the children and home and if parents are there to supervise the game, etc. Our twin grandson's love game IF I am there playing with them. I think B would not be an option for me.

I would say C or D. Sharing a gift would be ok for something like Christmas, my kids are 2 years apart and one year they got a trampoline to share since that's a big item. But birthdays are more about the child feeling special in which case I might not do a joint gift. Plus 3 year olds aren't always so great at sharing

Identical gifts might not be a bad idea if you think they really like the same things and are going to fight. If you know they like different things, like one child likes purple and the other likes likes pink for example then C is a good choice. And you probably can't go wrong with D.

In our house, although the kids get their own gifts, toys in general are shared. My daughter has a leapster but her brother is allowed to play with it, and if they both want to play with it they have to take turns. So if the kids get the same gift or different ones, it doesn't matter too much. I know they're not twins but I sort of see twins as siblings who happen to be the same age.

I'm actually a twin myself but I have a brother so wanting the same toys was never an issue! I don't remember ever getting a joint gift for our bday

I am a mom of almost-6 year old fraternal twin boys. I would say A or C. A makes sense because board games or other types of games are usually shared. C is also a good option-we went to another set of twins' birthday party and brought 2 different small Lego sets.

I have a different opinion than everyone else, it seems. But I also have a different perspective because I am a twin. I say option A.

With C or D, there is the very real chance that one will like the other's better. With B, they'll never remember whose is whose. Even if they put a name on it, they're three- they can't read, and one will break the other's doll, and then what? Get them something to do together, like a game, or bath toys, or a dress-up set.

I'm also speaking as a mom to three girls- most of the time, we don't need three of everything. Think about how much stuff these kids are going to be receiving, then ask yourself if YOU would want double dolls, double tea sets, double board games, etc. Take pity on the parents and get them ON