I don’t like April Fool’s Day that much. A lot of April Fool’s jokes are just mean — they scare people, get people’s hopes up and then crush them, or get them to eat something disgusting. Why would I want to do that?
Besides, I am a really trusting person. And I like trusting people! Don’t make me spend a whole day being suspicious of everybody.
John Oliver feels the same way, and last year he led people in taking a no-prank pledge. (Warning for some foul language.)
But here’s the thing: it is fun to surprise people.
So I’m trying to brainstorm good April Fool’s Day jokes that overlap with random acts of kindness. They would be appropriate for any day of the year, actually. Here are the positive pranking ideas I’ve got so far!
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1. THE JACKPOT
Carefully place stacks of quarters in the change slot of a vending machine. When someone buys a Coke and the machine deposits change, maybe bunches of quarters will start falling out of the machine? That’s what I’m hoping, anyway. But at the very least, they’ll go to get their change and find themselves with a huge handful of quarters. Ha!
2. THE FAKE BILL
Steam open an envelope that a bill comes in, so that you don’t tear it, and save it. Print out the person’s name and address in a small, business-y font on a piece of paper and position it in the little clear window, so it looks like a bill addressed to them. Put a gift card for a coffee shop or bookstore or something like that inside.
Now seal it up and put it in their mailbox. They’ll be like, “Whaat, why am I getting a bill from this hospital I didn’t even go to,” and then they’ll open it and be surprised.
3. THE EARLY BIRD
This is actually one I’m going to pull on Mr. Donovan sometime, since we drive in to work together. I might do it on April Fool’s Day, if he doesn’t read this post (he sometimes reads my blog, but not always!)
I’m going to say we have to leave an hour early for a meeting, and then tell him on the way that we’re actually just going to our favorite breakfast place for some leisurely omelets. A die-hard morning-hater would not appreciate this, but he will.
4. THE FOOD STALKER
This is more of an office prank. Determine what your co-worker’s favorite snack food or soft drink is. On April Fool’s Day, hide cans of their favorite soft drink, or packages or bags of their favorite snack, everywhere… in their desk drawers, behind their computer, in their mailbox, and even in conference rooms (labelled “for (their name).”) Never own up to it.
The home version of this: fill the cupboard up with twenty packages of their favorite treat. (This really only works for things with a long shelf life, obviously.)
5. THE WALLPAPER
This is one you can do if you know a person’s computer password… so, probably a family member, unless you’re a very devious person. Design a computer desktop wallpaper with a long list of all of the reasons why the person is fantastic, and put it up on their computer when they’re not around. You can do a bunch and use them for screensavers.
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What do you think about April Fool’s Day? Are you okay with the traditional pranks, or do they annoy you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading!
I remember my late brother was once given a message on April first by his secretary for him to urgently ring a Mr. C. Lyon. Naturally, when he rang, he got through to the local Zoo. On another year, after his marriage broke up, he was offered a blind date and a number. The code he had to use was, “Can you dig me up a date for Saturday night?” The receptionist at the funeral business did see the funny side. My brother was pretty gullible.
Okay, I would probably laugh if someone got me to call the zoo and ask for a Mr. C. Lyon. 😀 And I’d probably do it… I’m pretty gullible, too!
I love your “jokes” but I do have to let you know that mail tampering and putting things into mail boxes, joke, good wishes, etc. or not are federal offenses. Your own mailbox is government property. You can put things there for your carrier and you can take things a postal employee leaves there out. You can collect mail for someone else with their permission. That’s all you can do.
Oh my gosh, Anne, that is a good point! I can just imagine the conversation in jail:
Inmate: What are you in for?
Me: Well, I was trying to give someone a gift card…
Hahaha!
Hey, you could do this to your neighbor though, couldn’t you? Tell them that their mail got put in your box and give it to them?
Oh yeahhh… that could work! I kind of love that idea… I don’t really know our neighbors well, but I like them. 🙂
Lots of good ideas here Bryn! I’m not a fan of the usual tricks – as you stated, they usually get someone’s hopes up, just to turn around and dash them. Or, even worse, some jokes can be frightening. Regarding Anne’s comment about mailboxes – the “bills” could always be mailed to the recipient couldn’t they? But you may risk them taking a look at the envelope and throwing it away without opening. My husband would probably appreciate the early bird joke.
Hmm, the fake bill one definitely needs work! 🙂 I bet I could do it to my parents, though. I’m pretty sure they open everything they get!
I love these. I’m no fan of April Fool’s. I have autistic kids now and so now I’m even less a fan, knowing how “normal” kids are so cruel to these kids in particular. I’m going to ponder who I can do these to. You have seriously made my day. 🙂
Aw thanks Sara! I am sorry to hear that “normal” kids are cruel to autistic kids. 🙁 I was a very “different” kid — I was spaced out all the time and it was hard to get my attention, and I had trouble interacting with other kids — so I know a little bit how other kids can be when someone is different. Thanks so much for the kind words 🙂
My favorite joke to date is laying in bed watching tv, my hubby was in the living room.
So I holler out ” honey…dear…there is a snake in our room”.
Watching him come in so very carefully was super funny.
He laughed also he was so relieved!
And then I gave him a special card with gift cards for dinner and a movie. He loved it!!
Oh my goodness, Pat, that’s pretty funny. And you clearly knew your audience and knew he would laugh at then end. 🙂 Especially with the payoff at the end!
I have no strong opinions about April Fool’s or pranks in general- I tend to take them on a case-by-case basis based on how funny/mean they are (and whether or not the prank is righteous retaliation for a previous prank), but my favorite thing I used to to my extremely religious, uptight, conservative, technologically-impaired mother when I was in high school was to change her computer wallpaper to pictures of beer or liquor bottles (never had a drink in her life- that’s Satan Juice) or hunky men in speedos. What made it funny was not only how mortified she would be, but that she had no idea how to change it back. Ditto when I changed her screensaver to just be words bouncing around that said “Mom farts like a sick gorilla”. It was well before smartphones and I also used to change the language on her Nokia phone to like, French, whenever she left it unattended, which was a lot. I always ended up having to fix it because she couldn’t find the screen to undo it.
But my favorite ever was when I changed her ringtone to the Mexican Hat Dance ringtone (remember when they only had those awful standard choices?) and turned it all the way up. It went off in CHURCH, and watching her beet-red face while she fumbled around in her purse for a full minute is a memory I will always treasure… (In my defense, she was a terrible mother. Embarrassing her in front of people occasionally was my only tiny slice of satisfaction. Plus slapping your kid in church is generally frowned upon so HAHA suck it, mom.) I can’t really remember ever pranking anyone else since…
P.S. I definitely know a few people who would enjoy #3, but if anyone ever did that to me it would result in their instant death. That one DEFINITELY hinges on knowing your audience! 😉
Hahaha well, most parents I know would crack up if their kids played those jokes on them… and it does sound like she deserved it!
Michele, I will never, never play a joke on you that involves getting up early. 🙂
I did silly things. Mostly because no one ever expected me to. Only a couple ever went over well. Most of them were not even noticed. The empty ‘filled’ donuts were kinda boring, but yummy. The wax paper in the sandwiches made for chewy sanniches. The ‘pre-sliced’ banana (see internet) looked so odd it was tossed in the trash. The saran over the shower head innards (MOM-there is something wrong with the shower!) was annoying. Making 7-Up into Mt. Dew is not really efficient.
However, you have some great ideas! I’m going to hide the treats this year. Of course, I do that when I leave for several weeks so maybe I’ll use one of your other ideas~~~
OH!! on May 1 I drop off flowers for people, it would be fun to do that on April 1st (specially since May 1 is on a Sunday and it is easier to sneak on a weekday).
Oh, that is true, Kris! As a kid I did May Day flowers for people (where you ring the doorbell and run away and hide) and it was fun, though I really didn’t want to get caught so I would get nervous!
I love all these ideas!
Aw thanks Tracy!