New Things to Try in Bed: 16 Fresh Ideas for Exploring Intimacy

Incorporating new activities into your sexual repertoire can invigorate your intimacy and enrich your sex life.

Whether you're stuck in a rut or need some inspiration to help spice up your sex life, it may be time to break outside your comfort zone and rediscover the joys of sexual pleasure with your partner.

Let's find out the 16 fresh ideas to try in bed for better, hotter and more fun sex.

How to Talk to Your Partner to Try Something New in the Bedroom

If you're interested in exploring new things to try in bed, it's essential to be open and honest with your partner. Communicating your desires will deepen your intimacy and help bring your sexual connection to the next level.

Use "I" Statements

Before you dive into a discussion about your sex lives, take the time to consider what type of language will be most effective in expressing your desires. Since sex can be a vulnerable topic, it helps to address it with "I" statements to avoid making your partner feel insecure or at fault. Rather than saying, "you never try new things with me", it's better to say, "I would love to mix things up in the bedroom. What do you think?".

Sexologist and relationship expert Dr. Jessica O'Reilly explains that framing your desires as requests rather than complaints can make your partner more receptive and willing to explore the topic further.

Communicate Boundaries

Discussing boundaries with your partner helps you distinguish between what is on and off the table regarding sexual exploration. The best way to introduce this topic is with compassion, understanding and respect for one another's expectations.

Writer and sex educator Rain Degrey mentions that you must respect your partner's "no" if it's something they are not interested in doing with you.

On the same note, it's important also to avoid kink-shaming if the conversation introduces new sexual activities that you don't like.

Be Patient and Move Slowly

After opening up to your partner about your thoughts, giving them time to process these new ideas is important.

Be respectful and willing to move slowly into this new territory. Whether that means giving your partner time to come to you when they're ready or offering another opportunity to chat about it, patience can breed more room for healthy exploration in the bedroom.

16 New Things to Try in Bed

It's human nature to fall into a comfortable routine with your partner. Finding new ways to pleasure each other can make all the difference.

Here are 16 fun things you and your partner can add to your sex bucket list!

1. Blindfold Your Partner

Blindfolding is a unique technique that can excite the senses and increase pleasure and arousal. The removal of one sense enhances the sensitivity of the remaining senses.

Every touch, taste, smell and sound will be enhanced and experienced in a deeper, more sensual way.

While your partner is blindfolded, experiment with light touch sensations, such as using the tips of your fingers or tongue to explore their body. Moving slowly from one edge of your partner's body to the other can build arousal as they have no idea what will happen next.

Add some light kisses, firm caressing and even a soft whisper in their ear to increase the tension.

2. Perform a Sexy Lap Dance

Giving your partner a lap dance can be a fun and erotic bedroom activity.

Sit your partner down on a chair or the edge of the bed and begin by straddling their body while facing them. Add a little extra passion by looking into your partner's eyes as you guide their hands along your body.

Next, you can turn yourself around to give them the visual stimulation of seeing your entire body before sitting on their lap. From here, you can let the music guide your movement and even add a striptease to your dance.

Remember, there is no right or wrong way to give your partner a lap dance. Get comfortable, play your favorite song and have fun!

3. Act Out a Sexual Fantasy

Sexual fantasies are a hot topic for many couples.

Inspired by the classic fifty shades, fantasies can introduce more passion and excitement into a relationship.

Research suggests that fantasies benefit many relationships by enhancing attraction.

Common fantasies that both men and women share:

• Sex with multiple partners
• Light bondage and rough or dominating sex
• Adventurous sex outside of the bedroom
• Forbidden or illicit sex (i.e. sex in public)
• Non-monogamous sex

4. Introduce a Sex Toy or Two

Sex toys can bring more exploration and excitement into the bedroom.

Sexologist and author Carol Queen [2] explains that any toy can be a couple's toy. Whether you're interested in more intense toys like a ball gag or strap-on or would prefer to start slow with a handheld vibrator, cock ring or g-spot stimulator, there is the perfect sex toy for every occasion.

From foreplay to anal sex, sex toys offer a way to add a little extra stimulation to the experience.

Sex toys stimulate specific pleasure points, providing a fun opportunity for you and your partner to explore each other's erogenous zones without exerting physical effort.

5. Explore New Masturbation Techniques

We all know and enjoy masturbation, but have you ever considered mutual masturbation?

It is a form of sexual gratification that involves two people stimulating each other's genitals simultaneously.

Masturbating with your partner creates more sexual tension since you can explore one another's bodies as you experience pleasure for yourself.

The best positions for this include side-by-side, missionary style and seated face-to-face. Engaging in eye contact throughout can help boost intimacy and heighten arousal.

6. Watch Porn Together

Watching porn with your significant other is a fun way to spice things up in the bedroom.

Not only can it help inspire you to try new positions, but it enlightens you on what the other person might be more interested in.

Psychotherapist and sex expert Vanessa Marin [3] recommends starting tame before advancing to more intense porn. Once you find something you both enjoy, allow yourselves to get inspired to try a new position or technique. Who knows, you may even make your private sex tape.

Most women enjoy audio porn, which gives a more subversive sexual experience without the need for visual images. Like an erotic novel, audio porn allows you to build your fantasies around the story's context.

7. Get Out of Your Routine

Add fun and excitement to your sex life by changing your sexual routine.

Let's face it; there's something incredibly desirable about spontaneity.

If you and your partner have fallen into a schedule to have sex on the weekends or evenings only, consider surprising them with some morning sex occasionally.

If your partner usually initiates sex, switch things up with a little role reversal. Sending your partner some sexy selfies while they're at work or picking up some lingerie are both great options!

8. Lube Up

Lube is a perfect product to make sex more fun.

Although it's necessary to make anal sex more enjoyable, lube is also great for foreplay, oral sex and vaginal sex! Not to mention, with less friction, lube helps make sex safer for you and your partner.

Options include:

• Water lube: clean, absorbs quickly, safe to use with latex condoms and toys
• Oil lube: longer-lasting, safe for toys but not safe for condoms
• Silicone lube: silky soft, longer-lasting, great in the shower, safe to use with condoms but not with silicone toys

For taste-driven people, flavored lubes can help stimulate your senses in more ways than one.

Sexologist and relationship expert Dr. Jessica O'Reilly suggests flavored lube as an option for oral sex - especially if you don't necessarily enjoy giving your man a blow job.

9. Explore New Sex Positions

If you're stuck in a rut, it can help you get outside your comfort zone by exploring new positions.

From face-to-face, standing, lying down, side by side and them on top, hundreds of unique positions can help enhance your sex life.

Even if you prefer to stick to the more traditional missionary position, you can try out several variations for better, more pleasurable penetrative sex!

10. Have Fun With Role-Playing

Role-play is a fiery way to excite the senses and introduce new forms of passion and romance in the bedroom.

Whether you prefer to take on a dominant or submissive role, it allows you to escape from your reality and engage in more passionate, lighthearted, hot sex.

Examples of popular role-playing ideas:

• Student and teacher
• Boss and employee
• Strangers meeting for the first time
• Massage therapist and client
• Doctor and patient
• Hotel maid

11. Play a Game

Games are an excellent incentive for more fun and pleasure when it comes to sex.

Some popular ways couples engage in sex games include strip poker, sexy truth or dare, or dirty Jenga.

Sex psychotherapist Ashley Sweet [4] mentions that sex games offer couples a fun and nonthreatening avenue to approach more sexual exploration and adventure.

A simple yet exciting game that many couples enjoy is the "who can last longer" game, where you explore one another's erogenous zones and try to resist orgasm no matter how difficult it may be.

12. Incorporate Food

Introducing delicious food into the bedroom can help amplify your sexual experience.

Since it engages all your senses, including taste, smell, sight and touch, it makes for a full-body experience.

Plenty of foods can spice up your foreplay, and the best kinds are those that can be spread, dripped, or splashed on your partner's bare skin, such as whipped cream, melted chocolate, honey, ice cream, or edible oils.

13. Temperature Play

Temperature play is a common form of BDSM where hot and cold sensations are introduced to the body for a sensual effect.

These different temperatures can work to stimulate our nerve endings and provoke arousal for a fun and spontaneous experience.

Put an ice cube in your mouth while giving oral sex, or play around with hot candle wax by dripping it over your partner's body.

Whatever you choose to do, be open with your partner about your comfort and pain levels.

14. Talk Dirty

As the perfect pathway to the main event, dirty talk is a wildly arousing way to build anticipation in the bedroom.

Describing naughty things to your partner, either in person, on the phone, or over text message, can get you both feeling hot and heavy in no time.

Sexologist and relationship expert Dr. Jessica O'Reilly [1] suggests trying dirty talk outside of the bedroom by being playful and flirtatious. As you feel more confident, you can advance your intimate language to include more erotic details of your thoughts.

15. Massage Each Other

Although an orgasm is not the end goal, massaging each other's bodies can be erotic and pleasurable.

Similar to tantric sex, which is a slow, meditative form of sex, a sensual massage is performed to give your partner an enjoyable sexual journey using different pressures and sensations.

Massage candles go beyond the typical lotions or oils by adding warmth, moisture, and a comforting sensation to the skin, enhancing the massage experience.

16. Get Out of the Bedroom

One of the sexiest ways to liven up your sex life is by getting out of your bedroom.

Without jumping straight into the deep end of public sex by joining the mile-high club, you can introduce exciting sexual activities in different rooms of your home.

Begin by moving into the bathroom to enjoy some steamy shower sex, then perhaps take your lovemaking into the kitchen, living room, or front entrance. Eventually, you may feel comfortable engaging in some car sex or even playing around in your backyard hot tub.

Try vibrating panties for your next date night if you're feeling extra adventurous. With one partner in complete control, the added tension of being in public can be enough to send you over the edge.

The Steady Freddy Team

We create this content to help couples and individuals better understand sexual wellness, with a focus on premature ejaculation, one of the most common male sexual dysfunctions. To address this issue, we've developed a medically formulated delay spray designed to help men last longer and perform better during sex. Learn how to use delay spray to maximize its effectiveness. Our articles are thoroughly researched, backed by data and studies, and medically reviewed for accuracy to provide reliable and insightful information.