Sexmas: Why Sex Toys Are This Year’s Hottest Christmas Gift

We are experiencing an explosion in sex toys as must-have Christmas gifts.

Sex toys have gone from being a marginal item found behind unmarked shopfronts or disguised as massage products to a significant part of America’s economy over the past three decades. The sexual revolution has been driven by evolving societal attitudes, technological advancements, discreet online shopping, and, increasingly, an awareness of the positive physical and mental health impact of sexual wellness.

While estimates vary, one recent report estimated that the U.S. sex toy market is currently worth $30 billion a year. Americans are spending about the same amount of money on vibrators, kinks, and lube as they are on books.

And Christmas is a sex sales boom. Indeed, the Womanizer brand—whose toys had a moment in the sun this year when Katy Perry pulled one out of her tool belt in the video for Woman’s World—has even produced an advent calendar featuring 24 different sex toys for $200.

Mariah Freya, the CEO and co-founder of Beducated, a “pleasure-based sex education” site that offers subscribers tutorials on how to have better sex, told the Daily Beast that Christmas is a time when people are buying more sex toys because we tend to be more focused on sex at times of celebration, when life feels “fun and positive, like at Christmas.”

She has empirical evidence to back up this thesis, too: “December is the month when people have the most sex in the Northern Hemisphere. You see a lot of babies born in September and October.”

She says the rise of sex toys as desirable Christmas gifts has accompanied their transition from crude “d--k shaped” objects into “more abstract, more colorful and more minimalistic styles of sex toys, which celebrate the idea that pleasure is an integral part of our lifestyle. It’s part of the optimization of our lives. Having great sex is at the very top of the pyramid of needs.”

She adds that while sex toys are often associated with sexual adventure, they are increasingly part of “the most hetero relationships,” because “at some point sex will be frustrating. At some point we will have bad sex, and that will extend until we figure out how to do it differently. Sex toys and education can have an interesting role to play in assisting us on this journey.”

Lucy Litwack, the CEO of one of the first brands to take sex toys upmarket, Coco de Mer, told the Daily Beast, “Exploring what works for you and your body is such a wonderful part of self-discovery. Toys can help you embark on the extraordinary journey to experiencing pleasure. A luxury sex toy goes far beyond the price point. It’s all about experience and evoking an emotional connection, a sensory joy. Every aspect of the experience has to be considered. The colour and texture, the strength and performance, the details and finishing touches, the packaging, they all play key factors.”

Litwack says that their “number 1 bestselling toy” this year is The Stimulator. Winner of Best Luxury Vibrator in the Cosmopolitan awards, this sleek, palm-sized device for women combines suction stimulation with vibration. It certainly looks the part, arriving in zip-up leather case that would work as a miniature valise for a very chic Barbie doll. It’s almost $200.

Litwack says another big seller this year is another product aimed at women, the Dual Vibrator, which is an aesthetically sensitive update on the celebrated sex-toy classic, the Rampant Rabbit.

A spokesperson for online adult boutique PinkToyz told The Daily Beast: “We’re all about empowering people to explore and enjoy their intimate lives, and the holidays are the perfect time to do just that.”

The spokesperson said their top selling items were the Iconic Smoothie Vibrator, the Evolved Novelties Pretty in Pink Bullet Vibrator and the Seaquake Bullet Vibrator. All three are under $40 apiece.

At the Brooklyn premises of hip sex store Shag, sales assistant Lola (who is also a sex “edutainer” under the name @dirtylola on Instagram and BlueSky) said that Christmas is now second only to Valentine’s Day for sex toy sales.

A perennial best seller for them is the Magic Wand (famous to those of a certain generation as the favorite of Samantha in Sex and the City, when it was still marketed as a Hitachi massage aide but has now embraced its destiny and rebranded as a sex toy.)

“It’s still the Cadillac of vibrators,” Lola says. “It’s rechargeable, they do it in mini, they do it in micro. We always have it in stock.”

She says another brand selling well this year is the woman-owned Dame line of products, especially the Dame Dip which retails at just $36. “Most of their products are very high end and generally well over $100, so this has been very popular this year,” she says.

While most sex toys are still aimed at women, the market for men is growing exponentially as guys shake off their own hang-ups, those in the multi-billion dollar sex toy industry report.

In fact, retailer MysteryVibe says that its flat out best-selling product of the season is one aimed at men.

Called the Molto, the device is designed for prostate stimulation; interestingly, its manufacturers are emphasizing the reputed health benefits of prostate stimulation (some studies suggest that it can reduce problems like prostate enlargement), suggesting that perhaps some men still like a bit of plausible deniability.

A spokesperson for the brand said: “Prostate orgasms are notoriously known to be a full-body experience, much like a female G-spot orgasm, which is probably why the P-spot is affectionately coined the ‘male G-Spot.’ We’ve seen a very large desire and curiosity about prostate stimulation and anal stimulation. We believe this is in part because Molto is made with a low barrier of entry, meaning it’s ultra-slim and beginner-friendly. Its size makes it non-intimidating to many people who may have been scared by the large size of most prostate massagers and vibrators.”

Elisabeth Neumann, head of user research at Lovehoney—whose best sellers for men include the Arcwave Ion, a “stroker which targets the super-sensitive nerves in the frenulum for an experience that can’t be matched,”—told the Daily Beast there is a “growing trend of people purchasing sex toys as Christmas gifts,” adding that the brand’s advent calendars, have become “increasingly popular in the past years.”

Neumann says that while their data shows that women are “often more open to receiving sex toys as a gift,” men “are also increasingly receptive, especially with the rising availability of products designed specifically for their enjoyment, such as wearable devices, prostate massagers, and couples’ toys.”

Neumann adds: “Gifting a sex toy for Christmas can come with its own challenges—like deciding the right moment to hand it over and unwrap it—but it can also add a playful spark and excitement to the festivities.”

So, whatever you end up buying for the special someone in your life, don’t forget three things: It’s the thought that counts; anything is better than another pair of socks; and make sure the label doesn’t fall off if you are going put this gift under the tree.

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