The other day I went to a sex toy party, as I mentioned on Twitter. It was my sex toy party and it probably will not be my last, despite the fact that I don’t buy anything from these parties. The party was hosted by a friend, at her house, and she and another friend were familiar with the representative. The rep was a lady in her upper middle ages, in her late 40s or 50s, I’d gander. She was boisterous and energetic and funny and I suspect that those qualities help the folks who might be uncomfortable at this sort of a gathering to forget about what’s going on in their minds. It could be helpful. The down side to this, is that sex and sex toys were not necessarily being discussed in a calm and intellectual way. We shouldn’t necessarily have to make a production out of sex, in order to talk about it.

The representative was from Pure Romance, one of the big names in sex toy parties and, if I recall correctly, the same company that hosted the party I went to the first time. Since then, the company has made a big shift toward their bath and beauty products. Lubes, lotions and oils abound while Pure Romance now carries lip glosses, facial washes and body sprays. On the toy end, our representative made a big deal out of discussing what she referred to as “the boys” and, while she explained that toys were not there to replace the men in our lives, this nickname seems counter productive to me. She passed around a handful of toys and everyone got to “ooh” and “aah.” I was sorely disappointed at the quality, not only because the toys were mostly jelly but also because they just lacked the power I like.

Not surprisingly, all of the toys were pretty much rebranded (and marked up) items from California Exotics. I recognized a couple pieces specifically. I’d expect the same can be said about the bath products but I’m not familiar enough with that type of product to make a definitely statement. I can tell you, though, that the new packaging reminded me quite a bit of the Boot Parlor line.

Our rep stuck to some tried and true exercises. She recommended touching vibes against the tip of your nose because of the erectile tissue there. She stressed about not inserting bullets and how easily something can become lost during anal play. She encouraged storing toys in Ziploc bags but I do not think she mentioned just how ridiculous chemical reactions can be between jelly toys. She touted the Pure Romance brand toy cleaner–which my friend bought–and while I’m sure it works well enough, I cringed when she said you can’t use soap to clean toys and indicated that their toy cleaner would somehow stop jelly toys from eroding after time. It will happen, no matter how well you take care of them. Period.

I was disappointed not to see any silicone toys and the catalog still includes vaginal shrinking and anal numbing creams. Many of the retailers for which I review have long done away with these items. Still, the night was not without its highs. It is fun to hang out with other women, to have a drink and to eat penis cake. We hit up the bars afterward and I had a great time. I was thoroughly entertained, if not thoroughly informed. And, because I am the savvy type, I will be hitting up Ebay to save myself some money and purchase some body spray. I can’t say that I loved my experience at a Pure Romance party but I can say that it’s a step up from your corner adult book store.

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