The days seem endless, yet the year has passed quickly. It’s hard to believe that your twins are about to celebrate their first birthday.
Many parents typically want to commemorate the occasion with a fun photoshoot to capture the memory along with the personalities of their dynamic duo.
But what if you’re short on ideas? Discover 21 different concepts to jumpstart your creativity!
1. Personalized Individual Cakes
Why have one cake for two children? Giving each their own in a photoshoot is great way to either emphasize their similarities (with the same cake) or note their differences (with unique designs for each).
Pinterest is usually a popular place to start for creative inspiration.
2. Balloons
Nothing says “birthday” quite like balloons.
Their imagery is almost synonymous with such a celebration. You could do just about anything: Perhaps you could spell out “one” or even their names using balloons.
Maybe they could gently drop onto the twins during the shoot. Maybe a more traditional use of having them in the background is more to your liking…
3. Entire Family
While the photoshoot is to commemorate the first birthday of your twins, one of the biggest parts of their story at this point is the family. After all, these are the people who raise, love, and support them.
Including everyone in the photo will preserve who they were and what they looked like at the time.
4. Decorations & Props With #1
Since this is the twins’ first birthday and all, it only makes sense the number 1 should appear somewhere in the photos.
Again, this is a time to look online for inspiration if you need something to jumpstart your creativity.
One number. So many possibilities.
5. Finger Painting
Having kids is a messy time of life, and this goes double when it comes to twins. So why not help tell that story in all its comical glory be incorporating a bit of fingerpainting?
Perhaps you guide them to paint a “1” or have the palm of their hands covered in paint to add a splash of additional color to the image?
Maybe you can even help them make a handprint during the shoot, which you can keep as a separate memento forever.
Or perhaps you just let them make a colorful mess, their own artistic creation that will be preserved through photography for all time.
Just make sure it’s washable.
6. Bubbles
Few things capture the idea of precious innocence like bubbles. This can bring a lighthearted, sweet touch to the photos. Maybe, someone just off-camera is blowing bubbles while the photographer captures the twins’ fun reactions.
7. Special Outfits
How you choose to dress the twins is another way to add a thematic element to your photoshoot.
Just like the birthday cake idea mentioned earlier, this can be your chance to either highlight the similarities or differences between your twins.
Get creative.
8. Favorite Toys
As everyone knows, toddlers are famous for being extremely cooperative, including when you’re trying to take their picture.
(We’ll give you a minute to stop laughing.)
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, but including the twins’ favorite toys in the photoshoot is one way to accomplish two things:
First, it gives you a way to pacify them. If they’re focused on their beloved toys, they’re less likely to start heading off in some random direction or acting upset.
Second, it again helps you visually tell the story of what your children enjoyed playing with at this time in their lives.
9. Ball Pit
Another adorable idea is to put your twins in a ball pit for the photoshoot. Rummaging around and tossing the balls everywhere will make for some great visuals to capture.
You can have them both in and wait for moments where they’re either playing with each other in the pit or one gets out and looks at the other who is still in… or whatever else happens!
Again, the possibilities are endless here if you just go with the flow and allow their little personalities to shine.
10. Bath Time
The visuals are not only adorable but serve as another way to tell a story.
Perhaps you get them a little dirty (enough to pick up on camera) and then put them in a bath as a way of sharing how mischievous and adventurous they are. Or perhaps you want to show them splashing around in delight.
The potential ideas for a bath time photoshoot are aplenty.
11. Blanket Outdoors
If it’s the right time of year and you’re blessed with good weather, these can make some amazing photos.
The outdoors can present so many wonderful backdrops: a park, the woods, your backyard, or something even more specific and thematic like a baseball field.
Plop your twins on a comfortable blanket on a nice day with your ideal backdrop, and you have the opportunity for some ideal photos indeed.
12. Favorite Family Sport
Remember when we earlier mentioned bringing the whole family into these photographs? Including the favorite family sport is another way to tell a story.
It can share the passions these twins will be exposed to and could potentially adopt. Maybe they’ll grow to love baseball because of all the family games to be played or grow up playing touch football with their siblings or parents.
It’s about storytelling. (And cuteness.)
13. Newborn Clothes in Background
Sharing how much your twins have changed in the last year is another great visual; having their newborn clothes around is a creative way to tell that story. Plus, it will help you remember the outfits they wore at the time.
Directly related to this, you can have…
14. Newborn Photos Beside Them
This is another way to highlight just how much the twins have changed in a year. As you know, babies are always evolving, seemingly week to week.
The newborn photos can instill a sense of nostalgia already brewing this early in the game because even when your children are very young, looking back on their short past is always an emotional experience.
15. Twinkling Lights
Another great way to bring in some atmosphere is twinkling lights. Perhaps you can dim the room a bit and have the twinkling lights create a certain effect. Or perhaps the twinkling lights just make the background a little more dynamic.
Again, there are so many possibilities and inspiration is never far away.
16. Clouds & Rainbows
Clouds and rainbows can offer an adorable, lighthearted effect. It projects innocence and purity in a way few other themes or backdrops can and leaves a lot of room for creativity.
Maybe the rainbow is made up of balloons. (A nice connection/callback to our earlier suggestion.) Perhaps the room is painted with a rainbow.
If you have experienced the tragic loss of a child before the birth of your twins, the rainbow can also be powerfully symbolic.
17. Moon & Stars
This can help bring about ideas of upcoming dreams and imagination or instill a sense of calm and quiet into the pictures. As mentioned before, Pinterest can offer lots of inspiration.
18. Flowers
This can be a great way to symbolize the “blooming” young life of your twins, and not all flowers are the same. Each variety can have its own meaning, which can enhance the storytelling of your photos.
If there’s a certain association you want to make with your twins, choose your flowers carefully.
19. Beach Themed
Let’s face it: having twins does not equal relaxing, but you can still bring vacation vibes to the photoshoot with a beach theme.
Whether it’s just a fun beach backdrop, buckets of sand around them with an innertube or actually taking the photographs on a real beach, ideas for this are bountiful.
(By the way, sand can be a great thing for your children!)
20. Streamers
Streamers are another classic way to immediately share a birthday story from a visual perspective. They’re colorful, can be found in various themes, and give photos a celebratory feel!
Hop online and see if you can’t find the right inspiration on how to best use the right streamers!
21. Park Benches
These pieces of outdoor furniture lead to thoughts of enjoying the outdoors and calmly taking in our surroundings.
You could have only your twins on the bench or use it as another way to incorporate the whole family. Maybe you want a real park bench or perhaps just a small prop bench.
Conclusion
We hope these ideas have helped spark your creativity so you can use the art of photography to tell the story of your twins: who they are so far, and what important elements are part of their lives.
And, as always, swing by this site for more related articles. We’re always updating!
Mom of three (including identical twin boys), wife, and owner of Parents Wonder. This is my place to share my journey as a mother and the helpful insights I learn along the way.