I have owned three double strollers in eighteen months. Dan calls the hall closet "the stroller graveyard." He is not wrong, although two of them have since been sold, so it is more of a stroller memorial now.
I am writing this because I spent hours reading reviews before the twins were born, and none of them told me what I actually needed to know: how the thing works in your life, on your sidewalks, with your car. So here is our honest saga.
Stroller one: the tandem
A tandem stroller puts one seat in front of the other, so it is the width of a single stroller. Before the twins came, that sounded perfect. We live in a duplex with a narrow front walk, and I pictured myself gliding through store aisles and doorways with ease.
Here is what the reviews did not mention. It was long. Really long. Steering it felt like parallel parking a bus. Turning corners on our cracked East Oakland sidewalks meant a three-point turn. And the baby in the back seat had a view of the other baby's head, which Theo was not thrilled about once he was old enough to have opinions.
The biggest problem was the car. The tandem technically fit in the minivan, but we had to take the front seat off to make it fit, and then find somewhere to put that seat too. Every trip felt like a puzzle.
What I liked: it fit through every door, and it worked with our infant car seats clicked in, which was great in the newborn fog. We used it for about five months.
Stroller two: the big side-by-side
Around five months, the twins could sit up in regular seats, and I wanted something they could both see out of. We found a used side-by-side double with big air-filled tires for $140 on a resale app.
I loved this stroller on walks. The kids sat next to each other and "talked." It handled bumpy sidewalks and the path around the lake like a champ. It folded in one piece and slid right into the back of the minivan.
The downside: it was 30 inches wide. Most doorways are fine at that width, but our local pharmacy is not. Neither is the coffee shop two blocks from us, or the side door of my mom's condo in San Jose. I got stuck in a doorway exactly once, with a line of people behind me, and I still think about it at night.
It was also heavy. Lifting it into the car after a long day, with two babies waiting, was a workout I did not sign up for.
Stroller three: the lightweight double
This spring, right around the time the twins turned one, we flew to see Dan's cousin in Arizona, and the big stroller was not coming with us. We bought a lightweight side-by-side double. It is narrower than stroller two, folds up small, and weighs a lot less.
It turns out that is the stroller I needed all along. It fits through almost every door. I can fold it with one hand while holding a toddler in the other arm. It fits in the trunk with room left for groceries. The seats recline enough for a nap on the go.
It is not perfect. The small wheels do not love gravel or grass, and the canopies are a little skimpy for sunny days at the park. But for what we actually do day to day, like errands, the farmers market, and walks around the block, it wins.
What I would tell my pregnant self
- Measure your doorways and your trunk. Seriously. Bring a tape measure to the store.
- Think about where you actually walk. Smooth malls and cracked sidewalks are very different jobs.
- Buy used if you can. Strollers hold their value, and you can resell them when they do not work out.
- You might need two. Some families keep a sturdy one for walks and a light one for errands. We sold the tandem and the big side-by-side eventually, but for a few months having both was useful.
The final tally
We spent about $620 on strollers in total, and got back about $300 when we sold the first two. So around $320 for eighteen months of pushing two babies around. Honestly, not terrible, considering how much I have used them.
If you are shopping for a double stroller right now, my only real advice is this: picture your most ordinary Tuesday, not your fanciest outing, and buy the stroller that makes that Tuesday easier.
