Being somewhat of a notorious prankster, I decided to reach back into my earlier days when April Fool’s Day was the highlight of my year and share them. If you’re considering dabbling in the wonderful world of mischief this year, hopefully these suggestions can help you really give your victims a run for their money.
Minty Fresh With a Kick
Back in the day, my mother and I would always go out of our way to prank my poor, unknowing father, and one prank involved messing with his daily routine. At presumably no cost, take a pepper-shaker or a small (half to full teaspoon?) amount of ground pepper, and carefully pour it into some unfortunate person’s toothpaste bottle. When he goes to brush his teeth, a strange and spicy sensation will overwhelm his senses and certainly not leave him with minty-fresh breath. (Note: If you plan on doing this to a roommate, at least offer your own toothpaste to use until you can buy them a new one. And make sure you know your target isn’t allergic to pepper!)
The Power of Saran Wrap
Ah, one of my all-time favorite memories. Saran wrap can be very useful for pranking, as it’s often hard to see when stretched out. Enter: The Wrapped Doorway Prank. Materials: Saran wrap, scissors, tape. If you have saran wrap on-hand, take it after your prankee (who you know always gets up to pee at 5 am) has gone to bed, and carefully stretch it horizontally over the doorway, starting at the top and working your way downward. Make sure you cut so to leave a little extra on each side of the door that can be taped down, and voila, the Invisible Wall of Doom is born. When so-and-so gets up to leave, she’ll open the door and waltz right into your neatly-laid trap. (Note: Usually only works when you wrap the outside of the selected door, so make sure you don’t tape yourself out!)
Caution: Slippery Conditions
Another universally useful tool is Vaseline. You can use it for chapstick, moisturizer, and pulling really funny pranks. Use number one: the toothbrush. Apply a reasonable amount onto the handle of the toothbrush (or other common toiletry), and listen for the “What the #$%!?” as your victim wraps her hand around a strange substance that she’ll then go into extreme thought about what it could be. So long as you keep the Vaseline only on the handle, it shouldn’t ruin the toothbrush for future use.
Another Vaseline-inspired prank that I can affirm I have used before is the application to—yes, the toilet seat. Apply (reasonably) around just the seat, but enough so that when a groggy suitemate gets up for her 8 am, she gets an even better wake up call. Just don’t use so much that it makes a mess or causes said suitemate to launch into the bathroom wall—we don’t want any lawsuits arising from a prank that was intended to be harmless!
“There’s a Snake in My Boot!”
Okay so not really a snake, but this title represents two directions for pranking. One, you actually go buy (unless you already have) a toy snake/spider/giant frightening bug and use it to scare the daylights out of your beloved arachnophobe.
A different kind of prank, involving the “Boot” side of this weird title, involves putting some kind of unpleasant substance in someone’s shoe. I’ve heard of using shaving cream, I suppose Vaseline, and the like. But I would be a little cautious about this prank—we don’t want to go ruining anyone’s favorite pair of shoes, especially if doing so is going to cost you $80 at the Nike store. That being said, if you’re going to go through with it, make sure you use something that can easily be cleaned off of fabric, or consider using a smaller fake bug and putting it in there instead!
Steamy with a Chance of Freezing Rain
Admittedly, I pulled this prank like 4 months ago on my roommate and she’s never let me forget it (I now live in constant fear of her revenge whenever I shower). So for one reason or another, I decided to prank her while she took her nightly scalding shower by filling up a glass with ice cold water, creeping quietly up to the shower stall, and kind of throwing the water up in the air over the shower as a hail-mary that it would hit her. Her scream let me know that it did. This prank is quite satisfying and especially funny and shouldn’t cost you a dime, just be aware of vengeance-seeking roommates!
The Old Sink Trick
Though I haven’t done this one myself, I hear that it’s pretty effective as far as pranks go. This April Fool’s Day, put your extra hair tie to good use and wrap it around the spray nozzle-handle of your sink (for those who have access to older sinks or who don’t live in dorms). When someone goes to turn the faucet on, they’ll be surprised with a spray to the face. The good thing is it’s only water, and any affected makeup can be redone, I promise. This is a kind of quick but effective prank that can be used at home on an unsuspecting parent.
Overachiever
For those of you who don’t mind being a little wasteful with your school supplies, don’t forget about those pranks that are all-encompassing. There’s the classic office-prank, in which coworkers either wrap all the desk items of another with saran wrap or wrapping paper, adding the task of unwrapping everything to the to-do list of the prankee. Similarly, I’ve seen cars completely covered in post-it notes, cups or Chinese takeout boxes stacked in front of dormitory doors, and copious amounts of balloons placed in areas where balloons usually wouldn’t be. This realm of the prank world can be quite creative if you’re willing to think outside the box and put in the time and effort!