April Fools’ Day can offer a little repose from the humdrum of day-to-day life. Let off some steam and get some laughs – at the expense of your unsuspecting prankees.
According to some accounts, French traditionalists were the first to be on the receiving end of April Fools’ Day pranks after they refused to recognize the change of the new year from April 1 to January 1 in the late 1500s. Others point to a military victory in 1572 where the Dutch are said to have made fools of the Spanish forces. But maybe there’s just some innate part of human nature that craves a harmless joke every now and then and by reserving a day on the calendar for all shenanigans, we’ve relieved ourselves of culpability. Of course, there are limits to what can be called “good, clean fun” in the name of April Fool’s Day. Here are some ideas to jumpstart your creativity:
Tape a life-sized cutout of Rick Astley’s face at eyelevel in the fridge – or up the ante with Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Family photos? Dad is Robert Downey Jr. now and Grandma is the Queen of England.
Serve soda with ice cubes. Diabolical, right? Here’s the prank: you’ve frozen mentos in the ice. Just sit back and wait. Now, ready for dessert? Treat the kids to caramel onions.
But the fun isn’t limited to terrorizing your family and friends! Tape an airhorn to your coworker’s chair so they set it off by sitting down (avoid any coworkers likely to have an actual heart attack). Scale it back a little by adding your favorite celebrity to the Employee of the Month wall or covering the sensor on your coworkers’ mouse with a friendly “April Fools!” note.
Finish the night off with one last good scare by taping cockroach silhouettes inside a lamp shade. Voila! A perfect April Fools’ Day!