Thought I'd throw in my two cents - being I'm a bit of an amateur photographer (sadly not much of the erotic variety - OH is a bit camera shy... I'm working on it!)
Anyway - I'm guessing from your comments that you're not especially in-to the whole computer imaging deal - that's fair enough, although it is worth checking out how easily you can spruce up your pics with a few simple tweaks - I highly reccomend trying 'Picasa' by Google for a bit of that - it really is very very easy....
...but anyway - if you don't fancy that, most modern printers allow you to stick your memory card straight into the printer and select and print your photos without even using a computer, which you may find a good solution. The biggest obstacle to printing your photos at home is the expense of the ink cartridges and paper. If you want to use own-brand cartridges, a Kodak printer is the way to go - they're just the best value by far. With any other make you may want to consider using recycled cartridges or a refilling service which brings the cost right down. I personally use a HP printer with a CISS (continuous ink supply system) which is equivilent to about 17p a cartridge or something silly like that - but that's a bit 'hardcore' :-).
As for the paper - don't be suckered into thinking you have to use the same brand paper as your printer - they're all essentially interchangeable. I tend to wait for WH Smiths to have a special offer on and then stock up of whichever brand is cheap. Or buy online for even better deals.
Quality wise any modern photo printer will produce prints you'll have a hard time distinguishing from those you'd get at Boots... it's not quite perfect... but it's 99%.
And finally - back to where you were - Polaroid....
a) Polaroid do a digital instant solution, called the Pogo - it produces prints that aren't quite as big as old polaroids, through some fancy heat-transfer technology. It's a fun little thing, but the quality isn't great (certainly nothing like as sharp as a 'proper' polaroid). They're rapidly getting cheaper as I don't think they were the success they'd hoped for, but I couldn't honestly recommend one (yes, I do have one)...
b) Proper polaroid is indeed back, with a new camera (the 300) - haven't tried one yet but I hear it's just like the old classics. The film is still expensive (~£12 for 10 shots), which doesn't compete with home printing at all (can be as cheap as a few pence per 6x4 print, depending what you pay for ink and paper).... nonetheless, with demand the price will hopefully drop - for some people the true instantaneousness is worth the premium.
Hope you find a good solution for you!
Shake it like a polaroid picture!