April Fools’ Day can bring feelings of both excitement and dread. My mother would say, “If everyone’s not having fun, then no one is having fun.” So most of our April Fools’ traditions were based on good-natured practical jokes. Here are ten pranks you can enjoy with your family no matter what age.
Good Ole Plastic Wrap
There are so many great jokes you can play using cling wrap. Here’s a couple we’ve done.
#1 Toilet Bowl
My earliest memory of April Fools is when I was approximately eight years old. As we all arose and got ready for school, one of my older siblings entered the bathroom before me. There were nine people in a house with two bathrooms, so this wasn’t surprising. Suddenly, loud exclamations filled the house. “Hey! Hey! Aaaaaahhhhh!” I wish I could remember which brother or sister came busting out of the bathroom demanding to know who put the plastic wrap on the toilet. Before everyone awoke, mom lifted both the toilet seat and lid and put the film tight over the bowl, then lowered the lid. I’m sure you can imagine the rest. We got a great laugh out of it
#2 Hallway
Our fourth child is quite the prankster and donated many memories to this post. Her junior year in high school she was the oldest at home with her youngest brother and four foster siblings. She felt it was her duty to take over as leader of all April Fools shenanigans. After everyone had retired to bed, she stretched the clear film across the top two-thirds of the bedroom hallway. Much to her chagrin, the prank backfired. It must have been a weekend, because I didn’t get up to fix breakfast. Her youngest brother noticed and ducked underneath. Knowing she was not the first up, she walked with confidence to the kitchen. Arms flailing and with a face full of plastic, she laughed hysterically at being the April Fool.
Mom and April Fools Food
My mom loved cooking and made delicious food that she included in every holiday. Meals are a great time to prank the family.
#3 What Happened to Breakfast?
Mom used breakfast time to celebrate many holidays. You’d be amazed how many different shapes she formed pancakes into; clovers, hearts, and turtles were her specialty. Why turtles? Not sure, but turtle pancakes were her grandkid’s favorite. On April Fools’ Day you might find too much salt in the muffins or even no breakfast, as she went on strike. (We got a hot breakfast every weekday before school.) My favorite was the time the milk was blue, the scrambled eggs were green, and the pancakes were red. It’s amazing how the color of food determines its appeal. There’s just something wrong with drinking blue milk. Luckily, food coloring is harmless and easy to add to all three of these items in their liquid state.
#4 Mix It Up
In 2020 the schools had been closed for COVID 19. We had five children trying to do school from home. It was chaos since we only had one computer and the fear of the unknown gripped everyone. With everyone’s nerves on edge, the last thing we needed were pranks that made anyone feel foolish. To ease tensions, I decided the night before that April Fools would be a day of fun. Taking my mother’s lead, I went to work.
When I called everyone down for breakfast, to their surprise tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches met them. I declared the day off — no schoolwork allowed. April Fools on you, school! We had a movie marathon in the garage, where we’d recently set up a projector and screen. Lunch was dinner; chicken stir fry. You guessed it, dinner was breakfast; pancakes, sausage patties, scrambled eggs, and milk (white, although I did consider throwing in some green food coloring.) What a great day!! Everyone’s mental health improved, proving that April Fools can be a lot of fun and something to look forward to instead of fear.
Kids Get Kids
The following pranks can be played by anyone, but these were played by kids on other kids.
#5 Cookies Anyone?
Remember that fourth child I told you about? Her sophomore year of high school she was the life of the party. She took “minty fresh” Oreos to share in one of her classes. She bought a package of Oreos — the kind with the peel back opening. Emptying the entire package, she carefully twisted apart the cookies and removed the frosting and replaced it with white toothpaste. The reassembled cookies were neatly inserted back into the package. She nearly tricked her older sister, but #3 child was on to her “kindness”. Her first hour classmates weren’t as lucky. I can only imagine their faces as they tried to process what in the world they were tasting.
#6 Mmmmmayonnaise
For the third April Fools in a row, child #4 used her amazing sense of humor to turn heads at school. I honestly don’t know whether she took a full mayonnaise jar and emptied it, or if we had one that was already empty, but she washed the jar clean and filled it with vanilla pudding. She walked between classes at school eating her “mayonnaise” with a spoon and getting horrified looks. I did not know about it at the time, but I tell you, this girl makes me laugh every day.
#7 Short Sheeting
This was a favorite of my siblings, especially since we shared rooms and knew the sleeping and bed-making habits of our roommates. The great thing about this, is it’s the end of the day and everyone thinks they’re safe. Here’s how the prank plays out. The victim, usually tired, climbs into bed but cannot get their feet to insert past the middle of the bed. There’s a roar of frustration and someone might even get pummeled — which is even funnier if it wasn’t their roommate. Most of the time, the too-tired sibling would rip the sheets off their bed and sleep with just their comforter. The trick to pulling this off is making sure you make the bed exactly as it was — unless you’re the kind of person who makes other people’s beds for them on a regular basis. A variation of the sheets prank is to put cornflakes in the sheets at the foot of the bed.
Kids Get Adults
The last three are jokes our kids pulled on either us or other adults.
#8 An Oldie but a Goodie
My mother should know that her trickster ways would come back to get her, even in the next generation. For a while, my mother lived with us in our cabin. Our kids were very familiar with Grandma’s fun sense of humor. It was her bad luck to be at our house on an April Fools’ Day. Our oldest son snuck out of bed and put a rubber band around the kitchen sink sprayer.
This joke has been done for years and any wise mom will check the sprayer first thing April 1st morning. Grandma forgot the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I’m sure child #2 did not care which person he got, but what joy when his teasing grandma got up early. “Ock! Ock!” she hollered and came laughing to find who was the cause of her drenched pajamas. I was glad it wasn’t me who got up first. I’m seeing a central theme here of why I’m not usually the one who gets caught in the joke – don’t be the first up!
#9 Make it Believable
If you’re a parent, one thing you dread is the kids breaking stuff. You’re just waiting for the sound of crashing or a kid to say, “Ummm, Mom. You know that lamp? Well . . . ” We continually warned our kids about throwing the baseball or rocks or any other item that might smash through a window. Knowing this, child #2 was thrilled when he got a fake-rock-in-the-window gag. He told me about it first, so I could help mitigate damages if the joke went poorly against his dad. Again, after dad went to bed, the trickster attached the window cling/rock to the window in a very strategic location. The crack lines were very realistic.
When my husband got up to go to work I held my breath, knowing the explosion that might be coming. From outside, his voice boomed. The door slammed. His footsteps pounded up the stairs. “Child #2’s name! Come with me.” We kept very straight faces as we all marched out to his truck. “What in the heck did you do to my truck?!” The rock was exactly the same as the black cinders in our drive.
“It’s a joke dad. It’s a joke,” our son quickly pointed out.
“A rock in my windshield is not a joke!!”
“No, dad. Look.” Our eleven-year-old son walked to the truck and pulled the trick rock off the windshield. The relief was immediate, and my husband sat on the porch to recover from the adrenaline rush. Everyone laughed and all the kids wanted to see the rock and use it on someone they knew.
#10 Hollywood
Our youngest son was often called Hollywood because he was such a great little actor — even as a toddler. As you can tell, he had a lot of great examples to make him a pro at April Fools’ Day. At preschool, on March 31st, they had a toilet overflow, which was quite exciting for our four-year-old. The next day during a recess, our actor ran into the director’s office (who also happened to be his aunt). “The toilet! It’s overflowing.” She runs across the building with Hollywood hot on her heals. Inside the bathroom, everything is normal. “April Fools!” rings a tint voice behind her. To this day, that story gets told if you ever bring up April Fools’ Day jokes at a family gathering.
Children are totally believable. They’re innocent, so use them to your advantage — or beware. Whichever the case may be.
Your Turn
I love getting new ideas or hearing good stories that make me laugh. Tell me about a good natured joke you’ve played. Have you ever had a prank go bad? Have you ever had a joke played on you? Did you take it well?
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