Dear Ty

Reading Time: 3 minutes

A peek into my bedside drawer

Picture your first time walking into a sex shop. Maybe your eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store, or maybe you walked in and felt incredibly awkward and uncomfortable as a creepy old man eyed you poking around the nudey videos.

My first time in a sex shop, I was overwhelmed by the number of sex toys, hot costumes, penis paraphernalia, and vixxxen videos grouped by category in front of me. The windows were dark, it was close to midnight, and sadly, there were absolutely no lady boners to be had.

Luckily, a sex shop frequenter accompanied a young Di Daniels, and I ended up leaving with a bunch of goodies that led to many hours of sexperimentation long before I had my first fuck. As I recall, my swag bag included a large, bright red vibrator and a mini bullet vibe for those times you need something a little more travel-friendly. I also picked out a flavoured lube because it smelled nice, and a pair of fluffy handcuffs. I figured they were mandatory to include in my first round of toy purchases.

Since my first trip to the toy store my tastes have developed far beyond fluffy cuffs and buzzing bullets. I figured I’d give you a sneak peak into my sex drawer favourites to hopefully inspire you to get a little freakier with your partner and with yourself.

If you’ve got a clit, my number one recommendation is a Hitachi Magic Wand or something similar. It looks like a microphone and often has more than eight or nine settings. These vigorously vibrating pleasure machines were built to appease your bean no matter its sensitivity and can take you from vaginal sobriety to in-the-pants drunk in no time. Tip: keep it in the fancy, fabric bag it comes with so it won’t get dirty. No one wants a dust bunny in their box.

No naughty drawer should be without a variety of lubes. From water-based to a yummy taste, it’s important to stock up on as many types as possible. If you and your partner happen to be in the mood for back-door playtime, having an oil-based lube on hand is necessary. Or you may have just gotten home from soccer practice and your junk smells more like a foot than a fruit. Don’t worry, lather your genitals with a blueberry-flavoured lube and feel good about the fellatio cuming your way. I find the best-tasting brand — no matter which flavour you choose — to be Sliquid. There’s no funny aftertaste and they smell divine. My preferred brand of oil-based lube is one called Yes, since it’s packed full of organic ingredients that will leave any asshole feeling soft and hydrated.

Although the metal cuffs I purchased on trip one of 100 to the adult store have been used — quite frequently, I might add — I’ve found a more comfortable version to be the leather variety. Generally leather wrist cuffs are a bit pricier, but for those of us who prefer a painless, tied-up experience, leather is the way to go. They’ve also lasted me longer than metal cuffs that tend to break easily.

Bondage tape is another favourite of mine. It adheres to itself so you don’t have to buy it too often and comes in an array of sexy colours (all of which I own stacked neatly in the corner of my drawer).

Whether you’re female, male, or anything in between, it never hurts to have a stack of condoms ready to go in your drawer. Even if you have one steady partner you’ve been tested with, it’s better than running to the Quickie at 1 a.m. to buy that overpriced no name brand of willy wrappers. Also, you won’t be able to find specialty brands like female or polyisoprene condoms at the your neighbourhood Mac’s Milk, so keep those on hand if you know you’ll need them. I keep mine displayed on a classy, oft-dusted tray so my partner can easily spot a brand he or she’d like to use. The quicker the condom goes on the quicker we can get it on.