I dont know about you? But picking up toys or ‘marital aids’ as they are commonly called was not always the easy task it is today! Today you have ebay, amazon, spencers online and other sites that offer everything from monster dongs to blow up dolls… Which sure as hell beats the old way of going into some xxx rated peep show palace with these strange stains all over the place…

First off, since this is a couples site I can not stress the importance of shopping as a couple for toys and devices unless you are buying them strictly for personal use and have no intentions of bringing these toys into the marital bed as a shared pleasure. Nothing can ruin the moment by presenting your partner with a device/toy that only brings a look of terror to their face. 

So lets see… Marital aids such as vibrators, cock rings, whips and even restraints can actually add some excitement to ones sex play! When used with safety and respect and of course a little imagination. As with all things that you do as a couple sexually trust and respect will always play a huge role in your continued sexual happiness!

However where to begin? First off you are going to have to spend some alone time scouting out the possibilities… Believe it or not a good place to start is your local mall! Yes the mall! I know why would i say that? because as a youth you probably used this store to buy your black light bulbs, zodiac posters, key chains and pseudo drug paraphernalia but you probably only laughed and snickered when you went past the smallish adult novelty section! I am talking about Spencer Gifts! every mall has one and it is a great way to get ideas about different toys without seeming to obvious! now unless you are with a group of girls looking for a bridal shower gift…I would not suggest you find a that huge donkey dong and place it on the counter to the leering look of some high school kid at the register! But you can get a real world sampling of the different toys available for your pleasure, You can read the packaging as well as to see if this is something you might want! The important thing is that you can now leave the store not only wiser about your options, but you have not raised any eyebrows from people in your community and you do not have to worry about a bag breaking dropping your little treasure chest of toys down the escalator…

Now that you have an idea of what toys you two might be interested in, you should now go online and check out some reviews! One thing that I like about Spencer Gifts and Amazon is, for a lot of products many people will leave a detailed review giving the pros and cons of the product.

You must remember a sex toy is not like a shirt brought at Macy’s or tool brought at Home Depot! If you do not like it for any reason or if it does not do what you expect… There are no returns! So research if only for the fact that you may not have a disposable income and/or want a closet with the top shelf filled with various devices you do not want… just waiting for a snoopy guest or relative to find!

So you two kinky kids have found a toy or two that you might like, great! How are you going to get that work of ingenious engineering into your home? Well you have a few choices…

Passion parties are all the rage now and can be a great way for women to pick up and purchase toys… However they are usually just for women! So the female pair of the duo is going to have to go it alone and hubby is effectively out the loop for expanding and discussing add on purchases that might actually work for the couple. and then once again you migh have decided on that 23 inch vinyl dildo or 16 inch strap on… but how comfortable are you going to be purchasing that in front of your friends and neighbors?

Head Shops, the name is a throw back from the 70/80s. Whereas spencer gifts concentrated on the psuedo drug culture stuff geared to kids that want to look hip or cool, head shops usually had the real gear for druggies! and since drugs and sex seem to be able to get along well (at least as american pop culture views…) you  can usually find a few sexual items to purchase… But no matter what you buy out of  a head shop if someone sees you… there is no really good way to explain why you are inside purchasing anything…

Your local porn video store, You really are not thinking of doing this are you?

To me the best option would be to do your shopping online! There are so many benefits to going this route!

First off… once you have an idea of what it is you would like, you have hundreds of places to shop from! Right from your desk, or if you have a laptop, right from your bed!

If you have a paypal account you can shop without leaving a paper trail like that credit card statement, with that purchase from sex toy depot, in bold, in front of your great aunt on the kitchen table when she is trying to enjoy her tea…

Also you do not have to deal with some pimple faced teen in the mall leering at you or your partner as you are trying to pay for a toy and get the hell out of the store (this is usually the point in your life that you find out they put the security alarm inside the package) and they will want to locate that little magnetic strip right in front of the entrance when all of your neighbors and their kids are leaving Auntie M’s pretzels!

When shopping online I suggest you look for a couple of things…

Ratings on the company by other buyers. Nothing sucks like waiting for something you paid for that probably is never going to come! Another reason to use paypal! Its much easier to dispute a charge via paypal than calling up your local bank to tell them those anal beads you paid for never showed up!

How do they ship your items? You get a shipment from dell via UPS  and have to sign for it on your stoop no problem! You get something from Old Navy no worries! You are not concerned about what the nosey welfare chick peeking out her window thinks!

Many stores will ship items with their logo or store name all over the package… You might not want to sign for a package with “dildo depot” all over the box on your stoop! So make sure who ever you are buying from sends everything in discrete packaging!

Never! Ever, ever send items to your work place! A lot of people order stuff online and ship it to the job. No worries about missing the ups/fedex guy and you usually never have to worry about missed attempts… But there is always the slim chance that someone might get your package by mistake or some security alert pops up and they have to open all packages… very bad thing to explain that whip and gag set to your co-workers…

I have to say, if you take some of the points that I have laid out here your adventures in buying marital aids should be worry and stress free! and thats how it should be! In the near future I hope to put some of our toy reviews out there for other couples to use as a resource and hopefully some of our readers might leave a review or two!

BTW Here is a link to get you started!

 
Get free shipping on all orders over $49 from Spencer’s! No coupon needed! Hurry though, this offer ends 7/31/09!
 

…