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Pure pleasure

Passion Parties spice up relationships with sensual products for him and her

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Angie Polinsky excitedly shows off the crew she’s assembled for an intimate gathering of women on Madison’s East side. She’s brought along Gigi, Glow Boy, Jack Rabbit and Da’Bomb, and says they’ll serve women, men, couples, anyone who wants to put more spark in the bedroom.

“The best thing about Glow Boy,” Polinsky explains to the ladies, “is he glows in the dark. So you can take him camping!” The women, wine glasses in hand, in a semi-circle of couches and kitchen chairs, explode with laughter.

Polinsky is a Passion Parties consultant, and her product line is worlds away from the typical Tupperware or Mary Kay party. What she offers is an exclusive array of sensual products: passion toys, edible lotions, massage oils, lubricants and lingerie. Booking parties is easy, she says, because Passion Parties tap into a receptive demographic: women in monogamous relationships, looking to enhance things sexually. As Polinsky puts it, they’re women looking for their “inner divas.”

“Everyone is looking for that one thing to make a relationship a little better,” Polinksy says. “Our customers are smart, savvy women, who are looking to take control of the passion in their lives.”

They’re much like Polinsky herself. As a stay-at-home mom of two, becoming a Passion Party consultant two years ago gave Polinsky a sense of empowerment. “I needed to make some extra money and regain my sanity. Passion Parties helped me to do both and I’m having a blast,” she says. Polinsky and her husband, or as she jokingly calls him, “the personal product testing service,” have been married 10 years.

Passion Parties also helped to improve Tina Widmyer’s 13-year marriage. After getting married at 19, people told her they didn’t expect it to last five years. Widmyer says the key to her marriage is constantly working at it, and that involves products from Passion Parties.

“Buying things from Passion Parties is really investing in your relationship,” says Widmeyer. “It’s about spending time with each other and focusing on each other.”

Widmeyer was so inspired by Passion Parties that she decided to become a consultant like Polinksky. At her own parties, she emphasizes the benefits to married couples. “For my own marriage, in bed it could be like watching the same movie for 13 years. I want to see people work at relationships. I see some people who give up too fast because they get bored,” says Widmeyer.

Polinksy’s typical party begins with food and drink: chips and dip, tea sandwiches, veggies, cookies, an array of beverages. The women chat to overcome any awkwardness. Then they move into the living area, where Polinsky sets up a display of Passion Parties products and toys. She eases the ladies into the subject, starting with the more mild products, and progressively building to the hard-core items.

Every item is passed around the room. The women smell, touch and even taste the products. Bath salts and massage oils lead to lubricants and enhancement gels, finally building to a grand finale of passion toys in every variety, shape, size and color. One woman cries out, “You could make a soufflé with this,” while holding a particularly propulsive device. It’s not intimidating or embarrassing by this point.

It’s clear from the group Polinsky's assembled that there’s a broad-based and devoted clientele. Working women, full-time mothers, married women, single women, twenty-somethings, fifty-somethings--every one seems to have checked her inhibitions at the door. “In a single night, it’s not uncommon to talk with three generations of women in the same family at the same party,” says Polinsky. The women are quick to praise a product from personal experience, to express delight at a new item and to talk about their own relationships.

“I feel like I need all these things,” says one woman. “I’m definitely all about myself right now,” exclaims her friend. Not that it’s hard to be open with Polinsky running the show. Confident and outgoing, her hosting resembles a stand-up comedy routine. She drives the women to giggles making exclamations like, “When my husband smells this, he knows he getting lucky;” and “That’s a glimpse into her boyfriend’s pants;” and “That’s seven cents an orgasm ladies!”

For many women, the Passion Parties offer a more tasteful environment than going to an “adult store.” At a passion party, women can view products in their own living room, surrounded by people they know and without the “dirty stigma” of an adult store. This is what initially attracted Widmyer to Passion Parties.

“I was never comfortable going into [adult stores],” explained Widmyer. “Everyone sees what’s in your hands and you can run into your boss or someone else you know. This helped me to be more comfortable buying things for my own relationship.”

At Passion Parties, all ordering takes place one-on-one afterward, to protect the women’s privacy.

Believe it or not, Passion Parties can be very educational. “We talk and teach things about the female anatomy, sexual gratification for them and for their partners that most were never taught, let alone even spoken in school or by their family,” says Polinsky.

Polinsky is quick to clarify that Passion Parties are not all about sex. She says a strong physical relationship is central to lasting love because it leads to better communication between couples. Statistics show that over half of all marriages today end in divorce. The two leading reasons, according to Polinksy, are sex and money.

“Connection is the number one benefit,” she explains. “Falling in love is the easy part, living together is hard. The dirtiest four letter word in the bedroom is duty and the number one enemy of romance is routine.”

Lois Hadley, a marriage and family therapist in Milton, agrees with Polinsky. “People think sexual relationships are superficial and they’re not. Passion, commitment and intimacy form the solid foundation for a relationship.”

It seems like women across the country are catching on. Nationwide the company does more than 128,000 parties a year, reaching more than 1.2 million women. Polinsky also works as an executive director for Passion Parties and has personally recruited more than 55 consultants to expand the business in the Midwest.

If Polinsky could choose only one product for someone, it would be Passion Parties signature Pure Satisfaction enhancement gel. She recommends it to every customer and guarantees it works on 100 percent of people as long as they use the right dosage. Customers have called her raving about the product, and judging by the feedback from women at her parties, it lives up to the hype.

Hadley is quick to point out that a relationship doesn’t depend solely on sex. “In our society intimacy and passion are not always regarded separately,” explains Hadley. “But intimacy is not about being sexual; it’s about the sharing of feelings.” Still, Hadley sees the benefit in Passion Parties. She says the products can lead to “good mental health because a sexual connection is a extremely powerful one.”

While Polinsky has sold $8,000 in products in one month, she says it’s not just about the money. Through her job, she is able to  help improve a couple’s relationship and directly connect with women on an intimate level. “Women are so truly appreciative of the education and enlightenment of a Passion Party,” she says. “Couples like to play together! There are those who celebrate Valentine’s Day one day a year and there are couples that celebrate Valentine’s Day every day. It’s hard to break up when you’re having fun!”

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