Need creative ideas for identifying my twins to friends

[Anonymous]

I have 4 month old twin girls. They aren't identical, but people who don't see them every day have a hard time telling them apart. We rarely dress them alike, and I'm not organized enough to always dress one in one color and the other in another color like I've seen suggested in some of the "how to let your kids' teacher know who is who" threads I've read here and on some of the twin forums.

They don't have enough hair to wear barrettes or ribbons. I get headaches from headbands so I'm hesitant to use those - besides, they don't seem to like having something around their heads like that. Tattoos, ear piercing, and permanent markers are out of the question.

Neither one of them has a life threatening allergy or something that makes it absolutely essential that people outside our immediate family be able to tell them apart, but I want people to see my daughters as individuals (as much as possible) instead of TwinOneandTwinTwo (all one word). People at church (where we attend nearly every week) are interested in knowing who is who, and I want them to have an easy way for them to tell.

What I need ideas for is some way I can temporarily attach their initial to them (or their back) for when we bring them places like church, the church nursery, or a party we're going to tomorrow where people will want to play "pass the baby" and I can't be right next to them the whole time to tell them who they're holding. I don't want to spend much on this project because I know there's a very good chance we'll lose the identifier multiple times and I don't want to go broke replacing them.

I'm envisioning something I can make out of materials from Michael's or JoAnn Fabric, if that gives you any indication of my price range. Worst comes to worst, I can stick a "Hello, my name is _____" sticker on their backs, but I'm hoping for something a little nicer.

Any ideas?

[Anonymous]

I guess painting one of their toes a different color wouldn't work?

[Anonymous]

Meant toe nails.

[Anonymous]

What about monogrammed bibs? Or just ironing on an initial to a cotton bib (which would be cheaper).

[Anonymous]

Thanks - We were going to try the toenail thing when they were newborns, but by the time we got them out of NICU we could tell them apart no problem. If it were summer the nailpolish thing would probably work, but right now they need tights to keep their feet warm without making me chase after lost socks!

[Anonymous]

OP here - I like the bib idea, it's definitely in my price range

[Anonymous]

I was going to suggest monogrammed bloomers for when they start to crawl (a bib would work too). My sister in law did this. It helped us dimwitted family members tell who was who and it made for super cute pictures. Or get cute little sweaters and iron on their initial. Lavern and Shirley style, just updated and chic!

[Anonymous]

Give one a cow lick on the top of her head like Alfalfa. Use lanolin.

[Anonymous]

Bracelet. Different color enamel. (not beads, though.) Babies in other cultures routinely wear jewelry, so I'm sure they can learn not to mess with them.

[Anonymous]

Okay, as a twin myself, painting toenails or colored hair clips won't work. Nobody will ever remember what color is supposed to be what twin. Unfortunately you're just going to have to keep identifying them most of the time. But the bib idea is great. Actually anything with a monogram would be your best bet.

[Anonymous]

OP what's so difficult abt dressing them in diff colors? You're already dressing them diff anyway...

I worked with several sets of multiples and it's pretty easy to find a color with their initials.

[Anonymous]

My DH has a childhood friend who has twin younger brothers, Dan and David. At the friend's wedding 20 years ago, their mom told me that when they were little she color-coded their clothes for easy i.d. -- "Dan in tan and Davy in navy." Recently I saw them at the friend's 50th b-day party, and, of course, my first thought was "Why the heck is Dan wearing navy?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, as a twin myself, painting toenails or colored hair clips won't work. Nobody will ever remember what color is supposed to be what twin. Unfortunately you're just going to have to keep identifying them most of the time. But the bib idea is great. Actually anything with a monogram would be your best bet.

I agree with you here. I have friends who have twins and they told me that either Betsy or Peggy always wears pink, but I can never remember which one it is. As the girls got older, I was better able to tell them apart. The bib idea is fabulous!

[Anonymous]

I have to say, I don't understand this at all. Even identical twins don't ever look identical. I can always, always tell them apart.

[Anonymous]

I'd do monogrammed diaper covers and bibs. Search Etsy.