Clippy Costume

Over the past couple of years, I have managed to come up with some stand-out Halloween costumes, like spaghetti and meatballs and a sushi roll. This year, I wanted to take a step away from food costumes, and be some kind of a character. Something iconic, but that no one would think to dress up as. Maybe something old, that this generation of high school students might not recognize. Then I thought, "What about that annoying paperclip thing that used to pop up out of nowhere while you were trying to use Microsoft Word in peace?" The popularly hated desktop assistant, Clippy, would certainly turn some heads... and almost everyone would recognize it... but how does one dress up like an irksome paperclip with giant eyes for Halloween? My first thought was tin foil. My mother was the one who pointed out that the straight edges of the paperclip might hold better if they were made out of paper towel rolls. And just like that, I knew how I was going to execute my office supply ensemble. The curved edges are made out of tin foil, the straight edges are paper towel rolls (which we collected much to the dismay of my beagle, who otherwise would have gotten to tear them up), and the whole monstrosity is covered in metallic silver duct tape. His eyes are made out of plates with the rims cut off. Looking at pictures, I noticed that Clippy sits on a piece of memo paper, so I painted blue and red lines on a yellow shirt to do the character justice. The last decision I had to make was what to make Clippy's quote bubble say. This was a big decision considering that the pestering paper clip's most pretentious trait is his quote bubble. My boyfriend pointed out that it would be fun if I could find a way to have my clip say multiple phrases to say at a Halloween party, such as, "It looks like you are trying to pick up women. Would you like help with that?" Determined to make my paper clip persona impose on the guests of every Halloween party I would attend, I decided to use packing tape to make a dry-erase section on my quote bubble. This proved to be totally worth it, as I was able to write quotes such as, "It looks like you are trying to be some sort of comedian. Would you like help with that?" And even more vulgar quotes such as, "It looks like you are trying to grind up on that ***." Although the costume was awkward to wear- affording me no peripheral vision and disabling my ability to bend down- Clippy was a huge hit! I got comments such as, "Are you seriously that annoying paper clip that I could never get to go away?" and "I need to fully process your costume before I can talk to you." I also got a litany of comments on my photo on Facebook, ranging from "I love you" to "I hate you." My only regret is that I cannot wear the costume to my job as a first grade teacher...since none of my students will be able to understand why Miss Campbell dressed up as a paper clip with eyes.