When and how should we tell our family and friends that we are expecting twins?

When should we tell them? This is always a big question when you get pregnant. Some need to tell right away, others wait until after the nuchal fold scan, some have a gender scan at a private clinic and others wait until after the deformity scan at around week 20.

What I hear most often is that the women’s mothers are almost always one of the first to know, with the rest of the family getting the happy news later. A multiple pregnancy is a big deal that’s hard to keep hidden, often because it brings either huge joy or fear and because you suddenly don’t drink that glass of wine and because some bellies grow faster than others!

My own mum sat on Christmas Eve 2018 and looked at me and thought “she’s pregnant” – which I was, I just didn’t know it myself yet.

There’s no right time to announce a pregnancy, but you have to decide when you want your workplace to know (especially if you’re announcing it on social media). And whether you want everyone to know before the various scans that sometimes don’t give the results we want.

There are many fun ways to tell people about a pregnancy, search on Google or Pinterest. I have collected 21 ways in this blog, the first 12 are examples and the last 9 are little stories that you can draw inspiration from, all from other parents of twins.

Extra info: You are obliged to notify your employer of your pregnancy no later than 3 months before the expected birth.

For a multiple pregnancy, this will often mean 3 months before a planned caesarean section or induction, which usually happens around week 37+0 – 38+0 (get date and info from your doctor/midwife)

IDEAS FOR DETECTING A TWIN PREGNANCY

  1. Double ultrasound image

Take a picture of your two ultrasound images and write or say something like: “We have big news – twice as big in fact!”

  1. T-shirts with a message

Wear you and your partner T-shirts that say “Player 1” and “Player 2” or “We expect two miracles”. Let them guess what it means when you arrive at a family event.

  1. Baby bottles/ pacifiers or bibs as gifts

Wrap two baby bottles and give them as a gift to grandparents or friends. When they open the gift and see two bottles, they’ll quickly realise there are two little ones on the way.

  1. Photo card with message

Take a photo of yourself holding two baby bodies, one in each hand, and add the text: “Double the love is on the way!” or “We’re expecting two little wonders.”

  1. Twin themed balloons

Use two balloons symbolising twins, for example with the text “Baby A” and “Baby B” or “Double Joy”. Let your loved ones blow them up to reveal the news.

  1. Cake with a surprise

If you’re at a family night or party, you can make or order a cake that reveals two small baby symbols or figures inside. When the cake is cut, it will reveal the news.

  1. Books about twins

Give grandparents or significant others a book about twins with a message like: “You’ll need this in 9 months!”

  1. Mirrored shoes

Make a photo of two pairs of small baby shoes placed next to your shoes with the text: “We need to double up on small footprints.”

  1. Personalised puzzle

Order a jigsaw puzzle where the image is a message like “We’re expecting twins!” or a picture of the ultrasound images. Let the family do the puzzle to reveal the news.

  1. Treasure hunt with a twin twist

Create a treasure hunt with clues that eventually lead to a reveal where they find two small pairs of baby gear or clothes that reveal the twins.

  1. Photo with whiteboard

Take a photo of yourselves with a chalkboard that reads: “when one miracle becomes two!” – A fun and straightforward photo to send to family and friends.

  1. Video surprise

Make a short video where you start by announcing that you’re pregnant and after a few seconds add: “But wait, there’s more – we’re expecting twins!” You could use a creative theme like a film trailer.

These ideas can help make the reveal fun, memorable and personalised!

IDEAS AND STORIES FROM OTHER TWIN PARENTS

  1. Wonder who sees our entire post?

We celebrated our 1. Anniversary at an inn and shared a lot of pictures on Facebook and the last picture was a “twins loading”, so we also found out who actually saw the whole post and not just the first pictures, it was 3 months before they were born.

  1. “f**k there are two”

Here it was just a text message to my mum with: “F**k there’s two”

-I think most of us can understand that reaction!

  1. A picture as a gift

For my mother-in-law, I put a picture of the sonogram in a nice box and gave it as a gift. She had to look twice to realise it was twins.

My mum was a phone call after the scan, as she had known I was pregnant since I showed it myself…

-The most common recurring theme in your stories is “my mum knew I was pregnant from the start”

  1. I dreamt it!

My girlfriend was crying with joy and I was in shock myself!

Especially when the midwife said “let’s see if there are more hiding” we both held our breath until she said “No it’s ONLY those two” 😂

When we told my mum I was pregnant, she said out of the blue “well I dreamt last night there were two, so you might as well tell me” 😅

  1. A pacifier with a message …

Gave a pacifier that said “we are two in mummy’s tummy” – at first they didn’t read what was written on the pacifier, they just saw the pacifier, and then they realised what it said 😍

  1. The christening gowns

In my family, we have a christening gown that all 7 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren have worn. The most important person to me is my grandmother, because she and my grandfather have always been there for me and she knitted it for me because I am the oldest grandchild.

The two of us sat quietly and had a coffee and a gossip. My little sister had just borrowed the dress for one of hers, and I jokingly asked if there was room for more names on the dress, the ribbon was actually filled all the way round 😁 she didn’t catch it at first, but said that a single name could probably be added, with a little good will ☺️ I told her that I was pregnant, but that we had a problem. There will be 2 😱 -after joy, surprise and congratulations. She promptly started knitting/making a new dress 😁 so the original one carries one name, while the new dress carries the other name. And has since been used twice, and there will probably be a few more names over time ☺️

  1. “grandma tell now”

We chose to tell my boyfriend’s family on Christmas Eve and my own family a few days later, at the Christmas party. We did this by giving the grandparents a “grandma/grandpa tell now” book with scanned photos inside. They were very surprised when they unpacked the books and even more so when they realised that they were two different scans 😀🩷🩵🩵 And then there were tears of joy and lots of hugs from everyone.

  1. Bad jokes on Black Friday!

I had written “I’m going to be a big brother” on a shirt. My son wore it when we went to dinner at my parents’ house. My son didn’t find out until we were there.

I told him I had a new shirt for him to try on, he came in and showed it to us all and my parents were happy and my son couldn’t get his arms down, he’s only talked about wanting a baby 😅

At the time we didn’t realise there were 2 😅 we went for a scan to find out how far along I am. I was in shock. And my boyfriend tried to hold back all the bad jokes 😅 and it was right around Black Friday and then my bad jokes came out, take two pay for one😂 even though I was crying and just wanted to go home to my mum.

We put pictures on the table and my dad asks if you can see the gender and my boyfriend answers yes to which one! My parents were SO happy… 😁

For my mother-in-law I had bought a flower and a bodystocking and wrapped it, the flower was because she had broken her arm. But they were SO happy and she said “you’ll probably have twins, there are plenty of them in the family” and there are also on my dad’s side. I denied it and said I could only produce one! But she keeps bringing it up.

When we realise there are two, I call her and I’m pissed off! Because why, why would she be right😅

But now they’re here and they’re 5 weeks old and super adorable 🥰🤩 especially when they sleep 😅

  1. TWO bibs?

We wrapped two bibs for the different family members and it took them a long time to realise why they got TWO!

CONGRATULATIONS to you for reading along now – please give us an update on how you tell it!