Kissing Warm Up

She's almost ready for the real thing.

The Kissing Warm Up is when a character practices their smooching skills alone. It mostly occurs with young characters who have not had their First Kiss. It may involve kissing your hand, the mirror, a stuffed animal, a live animal, or anything handy.

Frequently occurs in anticipation of a make-out party. Can turn into Cringe Comedy if another character catches them in the act.

If the kissing warm up is with a living person, it's a Practice Kiss. If the kiss is with a live animal who is sapient, you may be looking for Interspecies Romance.

Compare Test Kiss. Not to be confused with I Kiss Your Hand.

Examples of Kissing Warm Up include:

Film

• In Superstar, Mary Katherine Gallagher makes out with a tree trunk.

Literature

• In Noughts and Crosses, when Callum and Sephy are having their First Kiss, Sephy's internal monologue mentions that she has practised kissing with her pillow.

Live Action TV

• Doogie Howser, M.D.: Vinnie shows a 12-year-old female patient (who has a crush on Doogie) how to practice kissing by locking lips onto a window.
• On My So-Called Life, Danielle catches Angela kissing a mirror.
• JD of Scrubs practices kissing with his stuffed dog.
• Referenced in the Red Dwarf episode "Confidence and Paranoia", when Paranoia starts dredging up Lister's embarrassing adolescent memories.
• Justin goes through a whole kissing montage in one episode of Wizards of Waverly Place. Needless to say, Hilarity Ensues.
• Mary Camden is seen kissing the mirror in the pilot episode of 7th Heaven. She also asks her big brother Matt to help her practice at one point.

Western Animation

• Pepper Ann gets ready for her first unsupervised party by warming up on her hand, a watermelon, and a pillow.
• On King of the Hill, Bobby practices kissing on Luanne's hairdresser dummy.
• In The Venture Brothers, Dean practices by kissing his hand. When he later describes it as "practicing being a boyfriend," it's not taken the right way.
• Referenced in the Adventure Time episode "The Enchiridion." Finn opens the titular book to examine it and finds a page titled "Chapter 5: How to Kiss Princesses." Pausing the scene quickly reveals that the author recommends practicing on a Lip Monster beforehand.
• Doug of Doug practices kissing on a balloon.
• Hey Arnold gives us the creepy yet hilarious kiss between Helga and her Arnold shrine — made completely out of wads of his used gum.