To celebrate year's end, we've culled info on several choice sex toys from past articles. And based on the current top ten selling toys at leading sex toy stores, we composed an X-rated holiday shopping list to offer some more spicy gift options. We did a little research, scouted out some prices (be warned there's enormous variation) and dug up more of the latest scoop on toys for bad girls and boys.

Let's start with the grandmother of all toys, the vibrator. Our article "Tricks with Toys" mentioned two very versatile vibrators that happen to work well with blow jobs. Because they have dual sex utility, you can buy one for yourself and one for your mate. And if a lady can't afford much this year, a choice vibrator might just be the gift to get for her man. Not only can vibrators be relatively inexpensive; they're probably familiar to a lady already (admit it). And herlover will need no instruction booklet to tell him how much he loves this gift -- you simply tell him it comes with the blow job.

Toy # 1: The Pocket Rocket ($20 - $35). Small and intense. It's small enough to fit in a pocket, discreet, portable, and thrums like crazy. We came up with some hot ideas for this one:

"You're ready to go down on him: you've taken over the public, single-stall bathroom, bolted the questionable door-lock behind you, and you've got him de-panted, sitting bare assed and legs-sprawled over the tacky pink sink... Never mind. Let's start in the bedroom. You've slushed up plenty of saliva, taken in a big mouthful of his hard-on and you're working your tight lips up and down his rod. Now for the toy: set the Pocket Rocket vibrating and put it against your cheek as you suck him like a popsicle. Progress slowly up and down his cock. As those vibes get jamming, take advantage of the opportunity to use a lot of tongue and suction; let the vibes do the rest.

Part two of this lovely blow job, apply the vibrator directly to his other delectables as you are smoothly pistoning his penis. Make sure the vibrator is on a lolling, lumbering speed at first. Start at the base of his penis. Apply that rumbling rocket to the root of his rod and circulate. Ask how it feels and make adjustments to taste.

If he's liking that, sneak on down to his perineum -- the sweet spot, the taint. Tickle that taint! If you can, keep up the sucking sensations on his shaft or cock head, maintaining smooth action with plenty of saliva.

And if he's moaning, rocking, or writhing, chances are he's having a good time. You can try upping the ante if you like by rolling the marbles. Take your vibrator to his balls. Start by stretching the sac, stroking the sac between his balls with the vibe. This will give him an idea just how much vibration he's willing to take directly on his balls. It will also get him accustomed to the buzz and prepare him for direct pressure more gradually. Keep open the lines of communication and play gently, and find out just what fun you can have with your rocket."

Toy #2 The finger tickler, finger tip vibrator, Fukuoku $25 - $30.

"If he hasn't come off by this point, then it's time to get him from behind. For many guys, anal stimulation during fellatio is so fine you could even make an addict out of him (in which case, you might always want to keep one electric-powered vibrator on hand for battery crises). Two nice little toys can help you deliver some thrilling anal stimulation. The bullet or egg, which is a very small vibrator with light impact. It usually has a string attached and you want to use it around, not necessarily in, his anus. Another nice option is the finger vibrator, like the fukuoku. Finger vibrators actually attach to your finger like guitar picks. They run on watch batteries, and you can wear more than one at a time. If your lover has a hungry butt hole or is familiar with sensations around his ass, the finger vibrator is the way to go because you can slip the finger inside and have the benefit of buzz at the same time.

Also with finger vibrators, you can follow the path of the pocket rocket. Roll his balls gently on the tips of your vibrating fingers, pull at and vibe on his nipples. Press on his perineum -- ooh, yeah. You can even add vibrating fingers to your hand job. Say you're working over the head of his cock with a fluid tongue, sucking the nupple hard between your lips... Well, you could also be gripping the base of his penis with a hand full of vibrating fingers (each vibrating finger costs somewhere around $25, similar in price to the eggs/bullets mentioned above)."

Toy #3 E-stim ($500-$700 for entire set-up plus various adapters). Visit sextek.com for details.

If you want to try something more elaborate or adventurous, look to our very recent article on erotic electro-stim toys. These days an electrical wave can be modulated and shaped to the gentlest needs, so with an e-stim unit on hand, you can be sure, as the title of the article says, that you're "Getting a Charge Out of Sex." If "getting a charge" doesn't sound too fuzzy or warm to you, it may be because you're remembering times you've been "zapped" by accident, say through static electricity. But Eric Forbes, the evil genius who runs Sex-Tek retailer for a whole line of toys he helped engineer (look for our upcoming interview with Forbes in the Sexpert's Corner), tries to dispel this image:

"The word "zap" isn't the best way to describe the sensation in most cases. Where "zaps" last for a short time and tend to surprise the one they are delivered to (I think of the violet wand's
high-voltage sparks, for example), our units produce more of a "buzzing" or "tingling" sensation which changes over time, but basically repeats with some regularity. Most people get an idea of what electricity feels like from bad experiences (static zaps from touching a metal object after walking across a carpeted floor, or coming into contact with line voltage through a household appliance or lamp socket) and I'm doing my best to show that electricity takes a variety of forms and can feel very pleasurable when applied correctly."

According to our recent article, an e-stim unit can be "really only a few steps removed from the vibrator, which also requires either batteries or an outlet." The article gives you a few more ideas:

"So what can you do with these toys short of fireworks? Well, older power units basically worked with two parameters. Intensity and pulse (a series of ons and offs). The latest generation of toys takes into account the erotic application right from the power generator. And these generators have become not only versatile but user friendly. Just like you can buy a musical keyboard that gives you sound options like "horns" or "bass" you can now buy a power generator that gives you sense options. Do you want waves? Tickles? Throbs? Flutters? Squeezes? Dial it in. You can hook up three electrodes to your body, each with its own sensation. Tingles to your clit, throbs to your cunt lips and tickles to your nips. Guys can dial up a hands-off come for themselves because the equipment can generate an evolving cycle of different sensations. According to some "hands off" reports, a guy might work out a concert of sensations that will blow his load without him ever touching his dick. Free hands have other benefits as well. It may take experimentation and timing and maybe even practice, but this could actually be part of what makes this new wave of toy appealing.

The possibilities don't stop at the end of an electrode stuck to the skin. Jump for joy: there are insertable toys. Shaped like regular butt plugs and bullet vibrators, these puppies are aluminum and conductive. You can pop a pulse in your pussy or pummel your prostate with a plug. And depending on the size and musculature of the opening and the setting of the device, the wonders of electro-stim will have these insertables riding in and out of an orifice all on their own."

Now, the next few toys came up in the second part of our "May is Masturbation Month" series. And they are still among the hottest selling items this holiday season.

Toy # 4: The rabbit (chimp, seal, dolphin or whatever). $30 (without beads or speeds) to $90 (with bells and whistles). Listed as #1 best selling vibe on Toys in Babeland's top five this holiday season, the rabbit is wet dream for women. Here's what we said about the rabbit back in May:

[to be continued...]

(Two national sex toy stores that you can get to online, but that also have phone lines and will answer questions are www.goodvibes.com and www.babeland.com