Students get creative for TWIRP, use videos and quiz for invites

TWIRP poster by Kira Roberts
The theme of this year’s TWIRP is Time Machine. (Photo by Kira Roberts)

By Ronna Fisher

As some may know, tonight’s the big night for the ladies. TWIRP, The Woman is Required to Pay, is an annual event at SNU. This year the theme is Time Machine.

There will be a comedy hour beginning at 7 PM and a haunted house put on by alumni from 9-10:30 PM in Hatley Hall. Every year there is a best costume contest, and this year is no exception.

But weeks (sometimes months) before TWIRP, the greatest commotion is about how the girls have asked the guys. This is commonly known as “twirping” or “getting twirped.” Some girls go all out.

One of the more popular ways to “twirp” someone is through video. Stacie Vernier, sophomore, asked Baker Pitts, senior, by pretending to be Pitts the day after Twirp. She dressed up as him and pretended to blog about going to Twirp with Vernier. She had them play it during an SNL practice between acts.

“I came up with idea because I thought it would be really funny to dress up as him since he has such a unique look,” Vernier said. “And mustaches are just cool to wear anytime. I wanted it to be funny and original.”

Sometimes the girls will even get teachers involved. Tiffany Hunter, sophomore, acquired Dr. Tim Crutcher’s help in asking Curtis Hann to TWIRP. Crutcher surprised Hann’s Greek class with a pop quiz. Hahn had to translate a Greek statement to English. The statement said, “Do you want to go to TWIRP with Tiffany?” Everyone else’s quizzes asked, “Should Curtis go to TWIRP with Tiffany?” He responded on the bottom of the page in Greek.

According to Hann, everyone figured it out before he did: “Everyone was just smiling at me. I got a really big smile. I was just like, ‘Oh snap!’”

Why put so much effort into “twirping” someone? Sarah Handley, senior, whose TWIRP-asking experience a couple of years ago included kidnapping, zip-ties and a ukulele, explained, “SNUers put a bunch of time and energy into Twirping because, really, when else will we be expected, let alone explicitly permitted, to pull capers and crazy stuff like this again? I did it because I wanted to add to my great college memories here at SNU.”

Besides, you never know when a Twirp date one year will be your fiancé another year, like Handley’s did.

Hunter also admits that there is a little friendly competition between twirpers: “It’s fun to be able to surprise people and try to outdo other girls, if we want to be honest.”

Share your best twirping stories below in the comments!