Clothing question for those with same sex twins

How do you buy outfits for your twins? 1) Two of the exact same outfits, 2) slightly different variation of the same outfit (e.g. different color, same style), or 3) completely different outfits?

For those who buy the same/similar outfits, do you have to label each shirt and pants so you know which clothing goes in who's dresser?
For those who buy completely different outfits, do you ever have to deal with one wanting the other's outfit?

My kids are starting to have major possession issues and I am thinking about getting them different dressers so they can each keep his own clothes in his own space. But I'm dreading having to label every single piece of clothing with their names, so they don't get into a fight about which one is who's.

 

Jon is now a size bigger than Marcus in pants. Generally, for everyday clothes, I just pick up what they like--fortunately we have grandma's who love to buy the boys clothes! For dress up, we stick with coordinating clothes. I don't mark anything, except for when I had to do it for camp this summer. Generally, the boys know what they like, and wear "their" clothes. Other than pants, everything shares the same drawer--I separate the pants only because it is easier for the boys when they pick out their own clothes. Although, now, they do look at the size on the labels before getting dressed.

 

My kids are younger than yours, but they are pretty good at keeping track of whose is whose (even when DH and I have no idea). They share most of their clothes (fortunately), but each has certain items that they lay claim to. I've been assuming that if they get more and more possessive as they get older (which it sounds like they will), I'll just start keeping their clothes physically separated. And if we try to dress Amy in Sarah's shirt or vice versa, I'm sure they'll let us know immediately.

 

Up until this summer, I tried to dress them in coordinated outfits as much as possible. I have some matching stuff from relatives, but usually I try to buy the same style, different colors. I have never labeled anything. They remember what is whose. They have different characters on their underwear, so that's not an issue either. And they share socks and pants.

This summer, though, DH put in a new closet organizer, and they are able to reach all their shirts on their own now. They also were able to get the drawer open where their shorts were, and they have separate shoe racks (their shoes don't match anyway), so I let them dress themselves every day.

Now they wear a lot of hand-me-downs from their brother and cousin, and I let them choose which shirts they liked best. Since Brady's in slim jeans and Hayden's in regular, I did put their initials on the tags of the jeans to help them (and DH). Other than that, I leave it up to their memory as to whose shirts they all are. And sometimes they swap.

Two times when I did put out clothes for them, Brady had a complete meltdown, insisting that a shirt I put out for him was NOT his shirt. But those were the only problems we've had.

 

My girls share socks and some other clothes but mostly they have their own since they are in different sizes. They know to look at the tag on the inside to see if it's theirs or not. They share a dresser and each have a drawer for shirts, undies/pj's, pants, and school clothes then they share a sock drawer. I put what clothes that I know is theirs in a pile and the rest I make another pile and then they go through it and pick out what is theirs and then put them away in the drawers. I don't label anything since Trina usually gets Kiras handme downs and then we give them to my niece so I don't want anything labeled. I do usually buy coordinating clothes for them but sometimes the same it depends on what they want to wear. But they pick out their clothes and get dressed themselves so sometimes they like to match but usually not.

 

My boys have never and still do not care what they are wearing. One underwear drawer, one sock drawer, a swimsuit drawer, a shorts drawer, tshirt drawer, and pjs drawer. uniforms are hung in the closet along w/ church/nice wear. When they were little they were either matching or coordinated. For holidays and pics they are still coordinated. But all is shared. The only claim they make is that anything mainly yellow goes to Kiko, and the reds go to Pete. K also likes soccer so those themed shirts he leans towards, and P leans towards baseball. But no arguing about them, or any issues. We have some toy sharing issues sometimes, but clothing... they pretty much have the attitude of "if I have articles of clothing on and all the important parts are covered, I can leave the house"... Half the time I don't think the "see" what I've set out for them to wear to church... they just put it on.
These boys are too busy playing/reading/talking/running/not listening/watching/eating/roughousing/etc...you get the idea...

I think they'll be the type that their gf/wife dresses them... :lol:

 

I usually buy 2 of each shirt, pants, shorts etc. Depending on whether I'm shopping alone or with the girls may decide what colors the shirts are. If I am doing it alone, I often buy the same color, while they pick out different colors. I do know that the colors they are going to pick are pink and blue so I could do that myself. However when it comes to dressing and storing. All clothes are kept in the same place. Mom washes, dries and folds the clothes and puts them on the shelf. I organize by short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, long pants, shorts/skirts/skorts, sweatshirts, and underwear/socks. Dresses are kept separate and hung up. They are old enough to go and find what they want to wear. On occasion they actually pick the same thing. When we are going somewhere where I want them in coordinating outfits I tell them so and I decide which one so we don't have fights. I still hear "thats my shirt, no thats mine, no mine" Usually I intervene and mention "if you keep this up it's MINE" which usually solves the problem. Family often buys them similar clothes and they know what color was given to each, so they do know "that's my shirt from Aunt so and so"

I find its too much trouble to keep everything separate. That said, Holly has a bit of a belly on her and when it comes to jeans or that kind of pants (not elastic waisted kind), hers are at least one size bigger than Cassie. She knows what fits and what doesn't. She is also my picky dresser, she wants whaat she wants and will throw a major hissy fit if she can't get what she wants. I need to teach her to do laundry, but thats another whole post.

 

My boys only get matching outfits for special occasions or really good sales. Most of their clothes come from consignment sales so there is very little matching or coordinating. All but their undies go into joint dressers during the summer, but during the winter their pants are seperated since the inch difference in height and 7lb difference in weight puts them in different sizes. The big boys are used to sharing clothes and only have possession issues on a couple of shirts. Now they both have issues when mommy isn't careful and puts one of "their" shirts on Brandon.

 

If the clothes are new, I'll often get coordinated ones. Typically, I buy resale, and so I go for similar: both sundresses, both plaids, etc. My girls have very different tastes. One is very girly girly, and likes pink, lavender and red. The other prefers dark brown, dark purple and black. Failing that, the darker of the two colors available. They have only had maybe 4 or 5 matched outfits since they were born, and one of them was a coincidence, because I received the same outfit as a gift from two different people.

They have some outfits they do not share, and some they take turns with. They just wear whichever socks go with what they're wearing. They actually just share one dresser.

 

I usually buy similar things but in different colors. I started doing that when they were babies. People always bought the exact same outfits for gifts so they did dress alike quite often. They actually pick the same things when we are shopping now. I tell them they can get different things but they want the same. Alex is taller so I had to buy one size bigger jeans/pants for length (thank God for adjustable waist pants cuz my boys are skinny minnies!!!). So Griffin will realize if he puts on Alex's pants because they are too long. I also decided this summer to separate all of their things into 2 dressers. Believe me- they know which stuff belongs to them and they'll tell you so. One night I gave Alex's pj's to Griffin and I thought Alex was never going to stop crying- over pj's!!!!! They will ask each other if they can borrow the other one's shirts sometimes- it is so cute!!!!

I have to still dp school shopping- I usually have it all done long before now but it's been a crazy month- so off I go shopping on Monday and Tuesday (school starts here on Wed). My babies will be in school the whole day now as they enter 1st grade (we only have half day kindergarten here). Part of me is thinking of all I can get done on my days off from work an d the other part is veey sad that I won't have their companionship. I know they have to grow up but still don't want them to!!!!

Tracy
Mom to Griffin & Alex :itwins_boys:
03/14/02 34wks

 

At this point, I don't split up their clothes. I haven't had any reason to and they just all go in one dresser. They have some matching stuff (bought by relatives), some coordinating stuff, and some random stuff. I don't really have a system except that it fits, is appropriate to the season, and is clean.

Anything that isn't given to us is usually either made by me, bought at our twins club sale, or bought at an end of season clearance.

 

Thanks for all your replies. I'm surprised at how many of you keep their clothes in the same dresser and let the kids figure out which is who's. Maybe this possessive thing is just a phase they'll grow out of, and I can keep both of their clothes together. That'll certainly make it easier for me.

 

My boys don't care the least bit about what they wear. I often buy two of the same because, well, I'm a twin mom and I can buy matching if I want! :blbl: They choose their clothes in the morning and sometimes they DO come down wearing the same thing. Recently they've realized that they can 'trick' people if they dress alike, and they love that idea. Usually, if I buy coordinating, they will agree on which outfit belongs to which boy. Their favorite colors are always honored. I bought two cute Nike sets for them for school. One is green and one is red. When I brought them home, there was no question that the green would be Nate's since green is his favorite color.

My boys wardrobe is a variation of matching, coordinating, and completely different articles of clothing. Sometimes one of the other of them will take a particular liking to a specific shirt and we haven't had any problem at all with that. The boys tend to 'honor' the favorite shirt as their brothers, but not to extremes. It always throws me off when Nate is wearing Drew's favorite blue shirt! It doesn't seem to bother them at all, though, to share.

All my boys clothing fits in one large dresser and closet. I just do their laundry together and put it away together. We've never had a fight about clothing here - I suppose that might be one benefit to little boys!

 

I thought everyone did it like me -- LOL! My girls share all their clothes in one dresser. They have special toys and quilts and things that they own, but neither has shown any ownership of their clothes and I've never thought much about it (though there are fights sometimes about who gets to wear the purple dress!) Now I'm surprised others have their twins have their clothes separated.

As far as buying clothes, if I find a deal on clothes, I buy two, but I'm not sure why, since my twins have probably dressed in the same outfit only twice in the last 6 months. I guess I like the idea that they could dress alike if they wanted to. They also have a mix of hand-me-downs and things that don't match anything in their drawers.

 

Our boys have always been different sizes and have their own room. So the larger size pants/shirts/PJ/underpants go to Luke's room and smaller to Ben. They wear the same size socks and after I wash them, I split them evenly between rooms.

I often buy the same or similar shirt/pants in different colors. Hey, there are only so many options out their for boys. But they pick what they want to wear almost all the time now (and match surprisingly). So they rarely wear any coordinating outfits. Only if its a special event or pictures. I don't think they have two of the exact same outfits, same color in their closets.

Yes, they are very possessive of their items. If I put the wrong shirt in their room. they tell me about it! Also since Ben is one size behind Luke, he gets his hand-me-downs. Ben has been vocal about the fact that he knows he is wearing Luke's old shirt.

 

All our clothes go into one dresser. There are some things that "belong" to one or the other, and occasionally, one will ask the other's permission to wear something. Sometimes we have one of something that both want to wear, and I have them work it out, they choose to take turns, or my old standard, "If you can't share it, you can't have it".

When I buy, it depends on the price, and what the item is. I might buy two of something if it's on the clearance rack. Since my girls have slightly different likes, I might buy something I know one will like and buy something else to "comp" the other. I often let them pick out their own things, since what they wear is more important to them now, and apparently I don't have such "cool" taste in little girl's clothing. The majority of our stuff is hand-me-downs and thrift store, and I just let them pick out whatever they are in the mood to wear.

The one down side of having doubles of something is that they very seldom choose the same outfit on the same day, and every once in a while, one will choose the duplicate of the very same outfit she wore the day before, and I feel like people will think she's wearing the same dirty clothes from the day before. I know it's not a big deal, but I still have a bit of a hang-up about it.

 

Same dresser, same closet matched as pairs so that they can pick out their own clothes "as pairs". Hubby likes this too because he doesn't have to match anything. My girls like to dress alike so when I can purchase their clothing, I usually get the same. I yard sale/bargain shop a lot too but the outfits are always similar in colors and style to keep things fair. Occasionally the girls fight over who wears what (when things are different) but for the most part they have their favorite colors and honor that for each other. One twin is a little more dominant and usually picks first. =)

Hope you can figure it out!

 

Hi SomeBunnies!!!!

My boys aqre 6, everything goes in the same drawer, they share everything - although I have started putting their initials on their shoes to reduce drama in the morning, that way I know who didn't put their shoes away. I also put their names on jackets and anything else they might misplace at school. (They are fraternal, but the same size)

I dressed them alike, or coordinating when possible (which wasn't much) they went through a phase at 4 where somedays they had to dress alike, and other days they refused. By 5, they intentionally dressed differently. If they are with me, I let them choose, but if they aren't (which is usually the case) I buy 2 like or similar things.. I do buy matching pants though, jeans, dress slacks - just easier.


I loved dressing my guys alike, they were so cute - but I always knew the day would come when they were ready to change that and it didn't botther. When we move next summer, I'm going to get them each their own dresser, and as they started picking out their clothes be more separated.

Michelle

 

This topic is of interest to me! I hope it's ok to post here. My girls are only 4.

My girls share everything but pants. They are different fits - not necessarily different sizes. I mark the label of Hanna's pants with one dot - and Sara's with two dots. I use a laundry pen. I figure for resale, dots are less distracting than initials. I do the same for the crocs - which are the same size.

They share drawers and a closet. The pants, however, are kept on different shelves.

I used to be matching and buy 2 of everything. But now my girls dress themselves and almost never want to match. They have different styles too. I often buy two of the same shirts, in different colors, but I do that for my single girl too just because I like the style.

 

I label everything with just our last name. My girls interchange clothes all the time. This year they even went through a phase where they exchanged their crocs and each would wear one blue one and one green one. I always buy adjustable waist pants and Nicole is slightly skinnier so adjust them all to size and I keep each girls' pants in separate drawers (I only label coats, shoes and the things they take off at school so pants aren't labelled). I just buy tops that are practical in colours that I know they would like. They get to pick out their own outfits the night before school. I do buy coordinating shirts (usually the same but different colours), but they rarely choose to wear these at the same time. Their jeans are the same, but all the other pants are the same style, different colours. So far they're pretty easy going about what they wear.