Fun April Fool’s Day Pranks
There’s one day of the year we can let our evil side out and subject our nearest and dearest to some devilish prank. It all comes from the olden days when the court jester was given one day to rule the kingdom and cause chaos. As king for the day, the fool could say and do what he wanted just to prove the king could rule better for the rest of the year. The first-ever prank recorded is in Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales’ first published in 1392. Although not always on April 1st, we’ve been pranking each other for one day of the year ever since.
If you are looking for fresh ways to create mayhem or looking for the perfect prank to get your own back for last year, check out these devious April Fools’ Day ideas.
1. Go Miniature
A good prank should cause confusion so tricks that turn normal perceptions on their head are always going to be a favorite. If your partner has a favorite item, such as a makeup or Dopp kit, bed or home gym equipment, try replacing it with an identical miniature version. The Etsy shops are a great place to find teeny tiny everyday objects made for dollhouses. Being affordable, you could go all out and miniaturize a whole room. It’s bound to create that wonderful few seconds of confusion and give you something to giggle about later.
2. Broken Phone Prank
Yes, we are in love with our cell phones and since modern phones come in so expensive, you can use this fact to your prankster advantage. It’s almost cruel to make someone believe their phone isn’t accessible or broken but all the usual rules on moral decency are suspended on April Fools’ Day, so why not pull the broken phone prank just for the hell of it? All you have to do is take a screenshot of their home screen then shift the folders and apps onto the next screen and set the screenshot as the home wallpaper. You could even reset the password. Nothing will work and you can sit back to watch inwardly chuckling at the ensuing frustration.
3. Keyboard Garden
To pull this keyboard garden prank off, you will need a few days to prepare. Start by removing the keys from the keyboard and placing a damp paper towel in there with a sprinkling of chia seeds. Put the keys back and leave the keyboard seeds for a couple of days to germinate and grow. It’s the prank that keeps giving since your target will need to keep plucking out plants for a week or so as the seedlings keep growing and popping up overnight between the keys.
4. Announce a Contest
If you need a really dastardly prank, go big on this traditional April Fools stunt. Prepare flyers for an unmissable contest with an amazing prize, only using your friend’s phone number to register or enquire. It’s an oldie but by posting the flyers everywhere in the real world and on social media, there could be dozens of phone calls causing laughable bewilderment. Make it more interesting by asking potential participants to leave or post a gross story as part of their application.
5. Fake Bugs
Not that unique, but fake gross things reactions are always hilarious and are stupidly easy to implement. There are very realistic fake spiders, cockroaches and other kinds of scary bugs available on the internet but if you don’t want to spend money, cut out a bug shape and stick it inside any desk lamp. The light effect and your target’s imagination will do the rest.
6. The ‘Loading’ Prank
This is another simple but effective prank for when your coworker leaves their computer. Go into the mouse settings and select the ‘loading’ icon as the cursor. Then sit back and watch as your prank target starts wondering why his computer is taking so long to just do its thing.
Some Truly Evil Genius Pranks to Try
Whether you stick with the traditional or intend to give your prank a 21st-century twist, sometimes it is essential to evil things up for the full April Fools’ Day effect. Here are some truly evil pranks that are perfect for setting the standard or getting revenge.
Take some chocolate milk powder and put it into a large plastic bag then go to the bathroom and remove the lid to the shower drain. Gently secure the bag in the waste pipe using the drain cover. When your target showers and sees the nasty looking brown water at their feet, they will fall into panic thinking about how on earth they managed to get so dirty.
If you use spray bottles to clean around your workplace, find a similar-looking clean bottle and put lemonade in it. Match it to the color of the solution usually in the spray bottle. As you’re in conversation with your target, say how thirsty you feel and grab the spray bottle and start downing it. The look of horror and surprise on their faces will be priceless.
You can feel great manipulating your target and one way is by playing with words. How about sending them off for a ‘long stand’, a glass hammer or a pot of plaid paint? You don’t need to be an evil mastermind to make an April Fools’ Day prank work but you do need to keep a straight face. But remember, as you are planning this year’s neat trick, someone else could be planning a prank on you.
