Inflatable dolls

Three kinds of blow-up doll, and who each one suits

The party doll. A full-size vinyl figure with a printed or moulded face, meant to be carried into a stag or hen do and photographed with the groom. It does that job well. Nobody should expect it to hold up to regular private use, and the seams tend to show it.

The love doll with openings. This is most of what you'll see here, and CalExotics makes the bulk of it. Names like The Girl Next Door, Back Door Babe or Spread Em tell you fairly honestly which pose or opening the design centres on. These suit someone curious about a doll who has no room, budget or wish for a heavy solid one. The trade-off is feel. Vinyl stays vinyl, and the openings are usually simpler than a dedicated stroker.

Dolls with extra detail. Some models add a moulded head, a firmer body section or a softer insert. They look and feel a step more lifelike, but you'll spend more time cleaning and drying them, and they pack down less neatly.

Blow-up or solid? The honest comparison

Solid sex dolls made of TPE or silicone often weigh as much as a small adult and need a wardrobe of their own. An inflatable doll folds into a shoebox, empties in a minute and is easy to keep out of sight. That is its real advantage. What you give up is realism and posing, because air-filled limbs don't hold a position, and one sharp edge can end the fun.

Plenty of buyers end up combining the two worlds. They keep a doll for the visual side and use a sleeve or masturbator from our toys for men for sensation, or add a small bullet from the vibrators range. If you're after a doll mainly for the rear opening, the anal toys section is worth a look too.

How to stop vinyl going flat on you

• Inflate until the doll is firm but still gives a little under your hand. Overfilled seams split first.
• Take off rings and watches, and keep the doll away from radiators, rough carpets and pets with claws.
• Use a water-based lube. Oils and massage balms can soften vinyl over time.
• Wash the openings with warm water and mild soap, then let everything dry completely before you deflate and fold it. Damp vinyl folded away is how mould starts.
• Keep a vinyl repair patch in the box. Small pinholes are easy to seal if you catch them early.

Vinyl is a plasticised material, so it is reassuring that EU rules have limited four phthalate plasticisers to under 0.1% of the plasticised material since July 2020 (Regulation (EU) 2018/2005). Everything else in our sex toy collection sits under the same rules.