My boyfriend and I were talking this evening about the prevalence of kissing booths in popular culture (particularly TV), as opposed to the fact that neither of us has ever seen or heard of one in real life. We started wondering if they’ve ever really existed, or are just a sort of urban legend. Has anyone here ever encountered one?
We had them on our college campus, run by fraternities and sororities to raise funds.
I’d kiss that for a dollar! [/Bixby Snyder]
I’ve never seen one. 27 YO, college going & fair attending.
Yep, my Catholic School had a carnival fund-raiser every year, and one of the features was a kissing booth.
Hey, The Weird One, I don’t mean to be a drag, but since this subject hardly ever comes up, I have to tell you the truth:
When I was sixteen, I went to a Renaissance faire and met a guy who was working at the kissing booth. I was very awkward socially, hence unpopular, hence incredibly dumb & inexperienced. He was much older. We started dating.
Everything went fine, until he kidnapped and “assaulted” me. I got away.
That being said, I know it was an extremely rare result, an isolated incident. Bad luck + bad judgement. And this was more than twenty years ago.
I have no problem with kissing booths otherwise. (I might be saying that wrong.) Harmless flirtation is good, and a necessary part of life even for, er, teenage nerds.
We had one at at some festival in middle school (we didn’t have “Junior High” where I grew up [West Bend, WI.]. 6th-to-8th grade was “Middle School”) early to mid-70’s. 10 cents got you a kiss.
If I remember correctly it was a Mardi Gras thing they had every year. I wonder how many public schools would allow such a huge celebration as we had for that. Probably almost none.
oops
24 years old. I’ve never seen a kissing booth in high school or university and I’ve never heard anyone actually talk about one. Both my high school and university were big on fundraising so the opportunity to have one was there.
Yes, but it was a long time ago. You’d have to be 40+, likely.
The following happened at my university:
some dude and some girl: are selling kisses for charity
me: How much?
dude: $2.
me: Here’s $2. Pucker up.
dude: Uh… maybe you’d be interested in Megan?
me: Forget Megan. I choose you, Pikachu.
dude: …
me: Oh, don’t wuss out. This is for CHARITY.
dude: … restrained heterosexual panic
me: GLOMP
Nice!
I sort of feel bad for the guy (My “no-homo” meter would be ticking slightly as well), but at least he has a story to tell for life (as would have I).
I’ve never seen an actual booth. When I was in high school in the early 80’s our cheerleading squad decided to sell kisses as a fundraiser. They weren’t self-aware enough to realize they were commonly thought to be the least attractive squad of cheerleaders ever, so they didn’t do so well. I think they ended up saving face by selling Hershey’s kisses. Or maybe I’m remembering the whole thing wrong.
My LGBT college group had one at some campus festival or other the first year I was at that school and I staffed it for a few hours, but it was more to be a presence than out of any expectation that we’d get any business.
Yep, that’s how they always get started. First the kissing booth, then the dating, then the kidnapping and assault. It never fails.
Yeah, a bunch of my friends in college lived in a house together, and they occasionally had parties featuring a kissing booth (consisting of an old screen door propped up in the backyard and strung with Christmas lights). The rules were, basically, that you had to stay there until three people offered to kiss you, and then the third person replaced you. Silly game, but it was a tourist town where most of the entertainment was geared toward middle-aged couples with kids, and we were liquored up and easily bored.
Heh, in our version, the entire POINT was that it gave you an excuse to kiss people of other than your preferred gender, with no strings attached and no committments 
I like the entire “glomp” effect. It works nicely. It also makes it sound like a very big and wet kiss.
…and maybe that’s why we don’t see kissing booths anymore…
I had this girlfriend once that could kiss. Man could she kiss. As in the best kisser ever.
She worked in a kissing booth once. She had a line of a dozen guys lined up while the other girls didn’t have anyone lined up.
Did I mention she was a great kisser?
Wow, the kissing booth is obviously much more common than I’d expected! So what kind of kiss is generally exchanged? Does the person paying get a quick peck on the cheek? On the lips? Full-on tonsil hockey?
My only experience with a kissing “booth” (thinly disguised as a game) was at the Renaissance Faire in Novato, north of SF. In my case, yes, it was “full-on tonsil hockey”.
The year after my above experience, the booth had vanished. In the intervening time, AIDS had been first recognized.