Boiling a dildo is a magical event. After an evening spent sweating, moaning, and thrashing about with a partner (or yourself), there is no simpler way to clean up and sanitize your dildo than to fill a pot with some water, drop the toy in, and set it on the stove to boil. Indeed, this magical technique assures that your toys will be absolutely sterile and safe, which is great for those couples who cannot afford a set of toys for each participant, and must share their plugs, dongs, and probes.
There is a catch, of course. If you plan to boil a dildo, you need to be certain that it is made of silicone, the sex-toy substance of the gods. Latex toys will dissolve into quite a horrifying mess, I'm told, and vinyl toys can't stand the heat, either. I suppose that glass, metal, and stone toys may be OK, but since those substances are so impermeable, it's probably overkill to boil them. Since silicone is a bit squishy and tends to pick up some junk from stuff that it touches, it's highly advisable to sanitize it properly. As it does not begin to depolymerize until about 480°F (250°C), silicone is easily able to stand up to both the boiling hot water and the hot metal pot that the water is boiling in. It is not necessary to suspend the dildo to make sure that it cannot touch the sides!
Before boiling your toy, I recommend using a mild dish detergent and some hot water to wash off any particulate matter that may be clinging to it. While boiling may make the dirt, lube, and whatnot sterile, it won't necessarily take it off the toy, and no one wants a sterile but crusty dildo to play with the next time the mood strikes.
Thank you to the myriad people who pointed out my "sterile by crusty" typo! Read right through that thing!