Jeanie Jones is a sex-toy party hostess in the Beehive state and the top saleswoman worldwide for a company called Slumber Parties. Jones sells Top It Off whipped cream, Basic Instinct fragrance, remote-control panties and other bedroom accessories at home parties for women only.

"People think our parties are nasty, dirty and wrong when, in reality, we're teaching people to spice up relationships and have stronger partnerships," said the suburban stay-at-home mom.

Jones is the No. 1 distributor for Slumber Parties (this year there are 10,000), an adult-party company based in Baton Rouge, La. Jones earned the title after selling $180,000 in merchandise in 2005 - an individual sales record in the company's 13-year history.

Slumber Parties are for women who are curious about sex toys, lotions and games but don't want to go into an adult store and don't know what products to buy, Jones said. "This is the party every woman wants to go to, and men want them to go to," she joked.

Slumber Parties, which was launched in 1993, logged about $54 million to $60 million in sales last year, said company spokeswoman Claudia Dufrene. Slumber Parties is among a handful of companies in Utah that provide adult merchandise through at-home parties.

Las Vegas-based Passion Parties, founded in 1994, has grown by half every year for the past five years, according to company president Patricia Davis. Some 9,000 Passion Parties consultants provide home demonstrations worldwide.

The company's success, Davis said, stems from women taking responsibility for their own sexuality. Women like the parties because they are educational, confidential and "fun with a giggle," she said. About 60 percent of the company's sales are non-battery-operated products, including lotions, lingerie, lubricants and "passion edibles."

"We weren't born with manuals," said Davis, who has been with the company for nine years. "[Women] have to know their own bodies before they can teach their partners."

Slumber Parties' Jones is a good teacher, according to customers, who say she puts them at ease and makes them laugh but knows her stuff.

"She's very informative without being vulgar," said Kristy Gallegos, a 26-year-old customer-service representative. "It's tastefully done."

Gallegos recently hosted a party at her Taylorsville home, where Jones performed her two-hour sex-toy "show" for a dozen women.

Jones told them she would use "code names" - "woo," "doorbell" and "his toolman" - instead of body parts. She described products that range in price from $3 to $130 and passed them around. Some can be used on a daily basis - Like a Virgin tightening cream can be used on skin around the eyes, while Bosom Buddy substitutes as lip balm, for example. And she stressed the importance of women allowing themselves to feel attractive and experimenting with their partners.

"Sexiness is an attitude, not a size," she told them.

Gallegos' party was the first for 19-year-old K.C. Johnson of Magna, and was less X-rated and more fun than she anticipated.

"It's not what you expect. It's more respectful," she said.

Ronnie Williams, a 55-year-old Kearns resident, said she started going to sex-toy parties about 15 years ago, although her husband sometimes believes she's at cooking-ware parties. She's tried several products by Slumber Parties and doesn't plan to stop.

"I think the older the better," Williams joked.

Jones attended her first party three years ago and never dreamed at the time that she would one day earn a living from it. Jones, a former bank teller, and her husband, Brian, spent their life savings, some $200,000, on trying to save the suburban specialty coffeehouse they operated for only 2 1/2 years before filing for bankruptcy in October 2003.

She began working with Slumber Parties and enjoyed the parties so much, she decided to try it full time herself.

"I could go out with the girls, talk about sex and get paid," she said from her home office in West Jordan. "I was so in."

At her first party, she made $125 in three hours. A few months later, she was making about $2,000 a month. That's when she and her husband decided to make the parties a full-time business, working together at home. Brian Jones, a graphic artist by trade, is in charge of the bookkeeping, shipping and receiving, and loading the family's Ford Freestyle for the parties. Jones does about three parties a week.

The best part of the business, the couple said, is being able to stay home with their sons Alex, 6, and Nathan, 3. The money's not bad, either: Between the two of them working 15 hours per week, they earn about $110,000 a year, which allows for family vacations and grocery shopping without a calculator.

"We're a lot closer now," Brian Jones said.

Jeanie Jones, who was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but is no longer active, said she believes her business fits in with the church's belief in "the core family unit." She aims to teach couples how to maintain passion in their relationships and keep them from straying.

"You don't want your relationships to get boring, because that's when minds start to wander," she said.

And yes, the couple say they've tried about 70 percent of the some 170 products they sell.

jsanchez@sltrib.com

For adults only

For information about Slumber Parties, call Jeanie Jones at 801-403-6905 or visit http://www.slumberpartiesbyjeanie.com.

For information on other adult-party companies, check these sites: