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As I am writing this, we are slowly but surely entering the Christmas season. As such, the topic of gifting is more than relevant.
However, gifts are always cool. Getting them is cool. Giving a good gift is always cool.
But what if it comes to sex toys? I mean, despite adult toys being almost completely normalized and accepted by the mainstream, this is still a touchy subject for many. The industry knows this and all of the biggest sex toy brands in the world like Lovense, LELO, and Kiiroo emphasize a discreet buying experience. Both in terms of ordering and packaging their toys.
This leads us to an interesting question – with sex toys being as popular as they are, is it a good idea to give sex toys as gifts?
I will try to give my take on this topic – we will discuss everything from how to figure out whether it is a good idea to gift someone a toy, when you should avoid gifting a toy, and even which types of toys are suitable for gifts.
This will be a good one so let’s just strap in and get started.
In this article, find:
• For Who Is It OK To Get A Sex Toy As A Gift?
• 3 Sex Toy Categories Suitable For A Gift Bag
• 4 Sex Toy Brands Suitable For Gifting
• The 5 DO’s Of Giving Sex Toys As A Gift
• The 5 DON’Ts Of Giving Sex Toys As A Gift
For Who Is It OK To Get A Sex Toy As A Gift?
Before deciding to gift a sex toy, considering your relationship with the recipient is crucial.
As far as intimate and personal gifts go, sex toys are pretty much as intimate as it gets. In all honesty, it is completely possible to ruin your relationship with someone by giving them a sex toy as a gift. It can bring that lingering weirdness to the relationship that never really goes away.
To help you avoid this, I decided to put together a quick list of types of relationships where gifting sex toys can potentially be on the table.
Romantic Partners:
This is the most obvious one by far. Introducing sex toys into a relationship is something that can help spice up a relationship, increase the quality of sex lives of the partners, and can even help couples overcome the often-dreaded dead bedroom situation.
Now, is it ALWAYS a good idea to gift a romantic partner a sex toy? Not really.
Maybe the relationship is super new. Maybe you know that your partner is super conservative. Maybe they are even a virgin and want to do a little self-exploration first with, for example, dildos for virgins.
The key here is simple – gifting toys for romantic partners is usually a good idea, but you need to fully know the personality and background of your significant other before going forward.
Close Friends (If You’re Sure They’ll Appreciate It):
Gifting a sex toy to a friend can be a bit more complicated. Again, background, personality, and your particular relationship are key. From experience, heterosexual males rarely exchange sex toys as gifts. For heterosexual women and/or sexual minorities, things are usually slightly easier. Women and LGBTQ communities usually find it easier to discuss sexuality and give sex toys as gifts.
When giving a toy as a gift to a friend, the key is this – candidly discuss sex toys and sexuality and see what their reaction is like. If you sense that they are open to such stuff then it is pretty hard to go wrong and mistakenly offend them. If the discussions lead to awkward silences and general weirdness, I would not risk making the relationship weird.
Bridal Showers and Bachelorette Parties:
Sex toys as gifts for bridal showers or bachelorette parties are fairly common and often accepted as part of the playful, celebratory atmosphere. This is also the type of scenery where there is slightly less pressure involved – it is an atmosphere where gifting is common anyway so the toys you gift will be mixed among other presents. If the gift falls flat, rest assured that it will not be the only one to miss the mark.
Even here, there are situations where you should avoid giving a sex toy as a gift though – the prime example being super religious wedding festivities. If the participants are super religious, they may not take it the right way.
Also – avoid gifting novelty dildos and cheap, supposedly “funny” sex toys. This was somewhat of a trend back in the 90’s and 00’s, but it feels kind of dated and weird now. Not funny anymore!
If you want to give someone a gift in a scenario involving a wedding, just go for quality stuff!
That said, quality is not the only thing you need to be aware of when giving an adult toy as a gift. You see, not all sex toy categories make for suitable gifts. To give you an idea of what kind of stuff to choose, let’s explore types of toys that you can comfortably put in a gift box.
3 Sex Toy Categories Suitable For A Gift Bag
Not all sex toys make good gifts. Chances are that you are into some considerable intense stuff such as monster dildos or tentacle dildos. More power to you!
Intense and unorthodox toys are worth exploring and can give you some of the greatest sexual experiences of your life. Does this mean that these types of toys are gift-friendly though? Nope.
In the following, let’s look at some of the most foolproof toy categories out there. I am not saying that it is impossible to go wrong with these, but if the person receiving the gift is at all open into the idea of sex toys then you will not go wrong by using the guidelines below:
Discreet, Non-Invasive Toys
Beginner-friendly options like wand vibrators, bullet vibrators, or even egg vibrators are relatively discreet and non-invasive, making them great options. They offer versatility, appeal to a wide audience, and are generally “accepted” by the wider public. No raised eyebrows or weird looks here!
Couples’ Toys
These days, many (if not most) sex toys are designed with couples in mind. By giving someone a toy aimed at couples for a gift, you are sending a subtle message that you want their intimate relationships to flourish. And, as you can imagine, this type of message is pretty hard to receive in any kind of offending way. As a side advantage, by giving someone a toy aimed at couples, you also take the pressure off. There is no direct message of “YOU need this”…instead, it sends a message of “perhaps this would be fun for you guys to experiment with.”
Accessories and Novelty Items
Accessories like silk handcuffs, feather ticklers, or even silk blindfolds offer a lighter, less direct approach. Arguably the easiest gift-friendly toy of them all. Sensual, beautiful, and exciting, but without any hints of overt sexuality. Sex toy/bedroom accessories are also great for testing the boundaries of the gift-receiver.
If they get weird about accessories then they probably would not have received your vibrator all that well!
Seeing as we have now looked at the suitable sex toy categories, let’s get even more specific and see which brands are the gift-friendliest of the bunch!
4 Sex Toy Brands Suitable For Gifting
Sex toys are a type of category of gifts where the brand absolutely matters. Receiving a weirdly packaged, tacky dildo will be a humorous gift at best, downright offending at worst. As such, you need to choose your sex toy gift wisely – the design, body-safety, and the level of quality are all paramount.
To help you choose, I put together a quick guide on some of the brands that make toys that will not look out-of-place in a gift bag.
When choosing, remember to take note of the categories of toys as well. For example, LELO vibrators generally have a luxurious feel to them which makes the stuff very suitable for a gift in general. However, going for something like the LELO Soraya beads from the same brand is not a good idea – simply because you will probably have no idea whether the one receiving the gift would ever be open to something like anal play.
In a nutshell, the brand matters. In the following, you’ll find a quick overview of some of the brands that I consider gift-friendly:
Lelo
LELO represents pretty much everything I have previously emphasized – luxury, beginner-friendly roster of toys, body-safety, and beautiful design. Some of their toys do sit in a bit of a higher price tier, but they are nearly always worth it. Their line-up includes everything from something like a pinpoint vibrator all the way to stuff like a premium, AI-powered male masturbator.
Lovense
Lovense has filled a pretty specific niche in the world of sex toys. You see, everything in their line-up comes with long-distance connectivity. You and your partner install and your partner or you can operate the toy from distances however long. Even if there happens to be a damn ocean separating you fine folks. You can just imagine the various cool scenarios that can be created with functions like these.
The Lovense Ferri panty vibe and the Domi 2 magic wand are good examples of the style of toys that Lovense sells.
Crave
If you are slightly on the fence on whether a sex toy would be a suitable gift or not then Crave is pretty much the ideal option. You see, this brand is a bit sneaky – they offer sex toy jewelry.
Stuff that looks like high-end, well-designed jewelry, but also functions as a sex toy.
To get an idea of what I’m talking about, feel free to check out Vesper 2, one of their best-sellers. It is a golden vibrator-necklace. And, it manages to do both things well – looks good while also being a great vibrator.
Crave is your go-to pick if you want to gift someone a sex toy, but are not 100% sure how they would receive the gift. I mean, the necklace and the accessories from the brand are beautiful enough in themselves. A type of gift that would be appreciated even if they are never planning on using the vibrator.
…they probably will use and love it though.
Kiiroo
Kiiroo is my number 1 pick if you plan on giving the gift to someone who happens to own a penis. As cliché as it sounds, men generally love tech – and Kiiroo offers a nearly endless number of tinkering options for customizing the pleasure experience. Their toys come with VR connectivity and lots of other cool perks such as customized speeds and patterns. For example, Kiiroo toys allow you to sync your stroking experience to what is happening on the screen.
If this sounds like something the gift-receiver is interested in and you know that the fella receiving the toy has an open mind then this is pretty much as good of a gift as it can get.
The 5 DO’s Of Giving Sex Toys As A Gift
So, we have already established some of the toys and brands that would make for great gift bag material. And, we have also glimpsed at which kinds of people are up for consideration for receiving a sex toy as a gift.
Now, to make things even easier for you, have a look at this neatly organized list of DO’s associated with getting that special someone an adult toy as a gift:
1. Consider the Recipient’s Comfort Level
We already covered this, but this is worth re-emphasizing. You need to be fully aware of whether the one receiving the gift is even open to things like sex toys. If they are close to you yet you know that discussing sex or intimacy is off the table for them then making the relationship awkward is just not worth it. Get them something else instead.
2. Choose Quality Over Price
Everything listed in my gift-friendly brands part of this article is fair-game. Tastes are completely different, but when I am talking about quality, I mean body-safety first and foremost. And this is unfortunately where the price also comes into play. You see, many ultra-cheap toys use materials like PVC or soft plastic that are potentially unsafe. These materials can cause a variety of annoying health issues. And, causing a rash for your friend or lover is surely not something you were aiming for when getting a toy.
3. Ensure Proper Packaging
Presentation matters. Particularly when the gift is as intimate as a sex toy. Consider everything from the designs of the official packages of the toy companies all the way to how you wrap the toy. Keep it tasteful and discreet!
4. Include Accessories or Extras
This can largely depend on who you are giving the gift to, but it is generally a good idea and can even “soften the blow” of only receiving a toy only. For example, let’s say that you are getting a gift for your partner. Here, it can be a great idea to include something like a high-end lingerie set with the toy. Even if you miscalculated and the toy is not something they are interested in, they will still appreciate the “extras” a la the lingerie set. As I said, softening the blow and all.
5. Be Confident In Your Choice
This is a bit of a left-field pick, but still important. When you are giving someone a sex toy, you will want to remain confident in your choice. Don’t feel weird about it and don’t start making weird, nervous jokes about your gift a la “Lord knows you need this stuff with the way you have been behaving lately.”
If you act as if your gift is something completely normal (it is!), useful, and fun, then the receiver of the gift will most likely not feel weird about it.
The 5 DON’Ts Of Giving Sex Toys As A Gift
Since we already took care of the do’s, let’s also spare a minute for things that one should avoid when choosing to give someone a sex toy as a gift.
1. Don’t Gift Without Context
Generally speaking, sex toys are a great gift. That said, this is not the type of a gift that should come out of the blue. Special occasions are completely fine, but if you hop in the door on a random day with something like a nipple vibrator in your hand – well, chances are that it will come off random and weird. And this is something we will want to avoid at all costs.
2. Don’t Hand Over the Gift in Public Settings
If you know that the event or the occasion will be having something like a public unwrapping of the toy, it may be better to choose a different type of a gift. You are risking too much here – you may end up in a situation where the recipient of the gift would have genuinely enjoyed the toy, but getting it in a public setting made the gift feel too weird and automatically created various negative associations.
3. Don’t Make it a Joke Gift
Treating sexual wellness items as a joke is so 1994. If you are absolutely adamant about going for a joke gift then choose something else. If you try to make your gift a weird joke then it will probably be uncomfortable for the receiver and you will also come off as out-of-touch yourself. Again, a humorous gift is not necessarily a bad idea, but sex toys are not the way to go if a hearty laugh is what you are after.
4 . Don’t Ignore Allergies or Materials
Most sex toy companies (including the ones I recommend in this article) use hypoallergenic and completely body-safe materials. Still, some people have some pretty niche allergies – for example, silicone is used in many sex toys and it is possible to be allergic to silicone. It is super rare, sure, but it is possible. This would quickly render a lot of sex toys unusable for the recipient of the toy.
5. Don’t Pressure for Feedback
Even if your sex toy gift will go to someone like your partner or a spouse, you will still need to respect their own journey with the toy. Obviously, asking for feedback is fine and even important if the toy goes to an intimate partner, but never pressure them for it directly. If you got a couple’s toy then you will enjoy it together anyway so you will know either way.
Now, if the toy went to a close friend or the like then I would skip asking for details entirely unless they want to talk about it themselves.
All in all, you need to trust your gut feeling when it comes to something like buying an intimate gift to someone. However, as far as the cultural landscape is concerned, it is acceptable.
Unless you or the one receiving a gift is super conservative or very against discussing sexuality publicly, chances are that your gift will be received very well.
With that, I will call it quits for today. Have fun packing up those sexual treats for that important person in your life. Oh, and good luck too!
