Valentine's Day Gifts for Mother of Twins

In preparation for Valentines Day, I thought some of our readers might appreciate a few thoughts or recommendations regarding Valentines Day gifts for Mothers of Twins. Being a Mother of Twins myself, I'm sure my list is a bit biased by my own tastes, but hopefully you'll still find some value in this list.....

1) Sterling Silver Twins Bracelet
I have one and I LOVE it. I wear it all the time and my twins always ask me to see "the boys" which are the adorable twin charms on the bracelet.

2) Happy ValenTWINS Day Votive Candle Holders
Such a cute little gift you can easily combine these holders with some luxurious aroma candles to create a relaxing and enjoyable gift for your favorite Mother of Twins.

3) Twin-sitting Gift Certificate
Give your favorite Mother of Twins the most valuable gift of all -- THE GIFT OF TIME!! Offer to watch the twins for a day, or half a day, or even just and hour. Whatever the timeframe the goal is to give the busy Mother of Twins an opportunity to have some time to herself. The gift of time truly is PRICELESS!!

Tips for Smooth Air Travel with Twins

We took a plane trip to visit family over the holidays and all in all it went quite well. When you travel with a family - especially in the wintertime - schedules and logistics can get messed up pretty quickly. But we had very smooth travels so I thought I would share a few tips & tricks for air travel with twins.

1) Make sure to get at least 3 seats together - or - book the EXIT row
Have a parent sit between the twins so you have the most flexibility for handing out snacks, etc. If the airline tells you they don't have 3 seats together, then book yourself in the exit row. This gives you the BEST bargining power when it comes to rearranging your seats at the gate.

2) Get a portable movie device of some sort - preferablly TWO
We had a portable dvd player and switched to my ipod nano when the batteries died on the dvd player. Most airplane movies - even though they are edited - aren't really age appropriate for kids under 10 or 12 years old. Make sure you have an audio splitter and two sets of headphones so both twins can listen.

3) Have your kids wear slip on shoes

Slip on shoes makes the taking on/off of your shoes in the security line go much faster - especially for twins that don't know how to tie shoes yet!!

4) Bring powdered drink mix in a pouch

You can't bring liquids through security and the airlines have mostly carbonated drinks on board. We packed crystal light powdered drink mix and got water for mixing during the drink service. This worked great and my twins didn't end up drinking the high sugar apple and orange juices on the plane.

5) Pack Snacks - lots of snacks - that travel well

Airport food is outrageously expensive and there aren't many healthy options. I packed apples, gold fish and rice krispie treats. That allowed us to snack on the plane and in the airports without spending the BIG bucks. And all of these snacks handled the ride in the carry on luggage quite well. Nutra grain bars and bananas get beat up and mashed in luggage and then the kids won't eat them. Stick with hardier traveling snacks.

And oh yes, if you have those wiggly twins that just won't sit in the lap belt only type of seat belt, then make sure you get the CARES (Child Aviation Restraint system) travel harness. Works great for kids 22 to 44 pounds and fits easily in your carry on luggage. Check it out at http://www.twinzgear.com/p-311-kids-fly-safe.aspx

5 Unique Holiday Gift Ideas for Twins

I've been getting a lot of folks asking for gift recommendations for twins lately so I thought I would put the list on the blog so everyone can check it out!!

5 Unique Holiday Gifts for Twins

1. Dear Santa My Twin Did It - Holiday Tshirts
These long sleeve red tshirts are great for the holidays. I've seen LOTS of different holiday themed tshirts for twins over the years,
but these are by far my favorite!!





2. Wooden Craft Easel
This is a great gift for twins because they can play with it together, but yet they each have their own space to play and create.


3. Merry TWINSmas Candy Bars
Just a cute little stocking stuffer for your favorite set of twins. My boys just love getting anything that's specially for twins and these candy bars are just the thing.



4. Twins Story Book
My personal favorite is "Twice As Nice - What It's Like to be a Twin" but there are others to choose from as well. These type of books celebrate the uniqueness of twins at the holidays or any time of year.





5. A "Date" with Mom or Dad (or some other special adult in their life)
This might sound a little crazy but twins are always sharing their time with parents. It's very rare for a twin to have any one-on-one time with their mom or dad. We've made a conscious effort to try and make sure our twin boys each get some alone time with us and Christmas time is usually a good time to make this happen.

Coming Next: Gift Ideas for the Mother of Twins!!

Celebrity Twins!!

It's incredible to me how many celebritites are having twins!! They are ALL over the magazines at the checkout counter of the supermarkets and everytime I look there's another set of celebrity twins. Jennifer Lopez, Marcia Cross, Patrick Dempsey, Mia Hamm, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, and Elvis Costello (just to name a few) are all new parents of twins and the list goes on and on. In fact, I recently came across some celebrity feedback on our Wombmates shirts at http://www.wombmates.com/ I guess that's my brush with celebrity for this year.

It makes sense that the number of celebrity twins is increasing for all the same reasons that the rate of twins is increasing in the general population. The incidence of twin births is on the rise for women in general, not just for those who are famous. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, people on average are waiting longer to start families. Women over the age of thirty are more likely to conceive twins than younger mothers. Second, women in their thirties and forties are more likely to struggle with infertility than those in their twenties. Twin births are more likely when conception is assisted with the use of fertility drugs and techniques such as in vitro fertilization. It should be noted that all of the mothers mentioned above were over thirty at the time they conceived their twins. I was over 30 when my twins came along as well. I guess now I have at least two things in common with these celebs!!

Twins Holiday Gifts

Ok. TwinzGear has just had a bit of a face lift and we're looking for feedback from our readers and customers. Tell us what you think!! Also we're working hard to update and add to our product offerings for twins holiday gifts. Check it out at; http://www.twinzgear.com/c-42-holiday-favorites.aspx It includes gifts for mother's of twins, father's of twins and grandparents of twins. Who are we missing?? Tell us what else you'd like to see for your holiday twins shopping and we'll do our BEST to find it!!