Five Pranks to Pull This April Fools' Day

By Addie Strong
April 1, 2011

april fools

April 1: Monthly bills beckon, it's still cold out and taxes are due in just two weeks. Maybe that’s why we have April Fools' Day—to lighten the mood a little bit. If that’s the case, it would solve the mystery of April Fools' true historical origins, which remain fuzzy even today, though the first written association between the first day of April Fool's pranks and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Fortunately, April Fools' enigmatic nature still hasn’t stopped people from taking part in everything from simple pranks to elaborate hoaxes to mark the unofficial holiday.

In a well-organized trick in 1957, the BBC broadcasted a news segment about a Swiss family who was purportedly harvesting spaghetti from trees on their farm. The video showed women picking spaghetti off the branches and laying them in the sun to dry. Viewers actually requested information on where they could buy the hand-plucked spaghetti for themselves!

In 1957, the BBC broadcasted a news segment about a Swiss family who was purportedly harvesting spaghetti from trees on their farm. It was voted #1 April Fools' prank in history. (provided by YouTube)

On April 1, 1978, Australian Geographic founder Dick Smith pulled off another supernatural April Fool's Day prank: Smith announced that he was towing an Antarctic iceberg all the way into Sydney Harbour. With the help of 300 employees, Smith rented a barge and floated fireman’s foam covered in shaving cream and a plastic sheet into Sydney, to the amazement of a jammed Sydney Harbour. It wasn’t until rain melted the foam and shaving cream that people realized they’d been fooled.

Taco Bell pulled a historic prank when they took out a full-page ad in the April 1, 1996 New York Times: “In an effort to help the national debt, Taco Bell is pleased to announce that we have agreed to purchase the Liberty Bell, one of our country’s most historic treasures,” Taco Bell wrote. “It will now be called the “Taco Liberty Bell” and will still be accessible to the American public for viewing.” Plenty of gullible Americans were outraged, until they remembered what day it was.

If those April Fool's Day jokes are a little too over-the-top for your personal practical joke plans, maybe you can take some inspiration from the French, who refer to April 1 as Poisson d’Avril (literally, April’s Fish). The French try to stick paper fish on unsuspecting victims’ backs in this national pastime. The joke is so widespread that even bakeries and chocolatiers make special-edition, fish-shaped treats to mark the day.

Still stumped? You’re in good company. In the past 30 days, total online auction sales on eBay for listings with “April Fool’s” have increased 19 percent, and total bids are up 38 percent compared to the prior period.

Luckily, my friends and family are experts in April Fools' pranking, so I’ve searched eBay for items that will help you pull off some of the best April Fool's joke ideas ever used to fool me.

The Mouse in the Kitchen
Take a page from my mom’s book: She snuck out of bed and into the kitchen while the rest of the family was still dozing. After planting a fake but extremely life-like mouse on the tile floor, she ran upstairs in a panic and screamed that someone had to go trap the mouse that was running like mad all over the kitchen. She ended up laughing so hard she almost forgot to breathe as we tiptoed around the kitchen and jumped every time we thought we heard a scurrying noise. (PS. The trick works well with a spider, too.)

Roll over items for details

Lifelike Rubber Mouse Prank Joke Gag Gift

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New Large Black Widow Life Like Spider

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Five Pranks to Pull This April Fools' Day

The “Hey, Mom, I Got Pierced/Tattooed” Prank
My very conservative uncle once showed up to a family party sporting a very simple and yet completely uncharacteristic silver stud in his ear. Needless to say, my grandmother was horrified and my uncle got a kick out of the midlife crisis rumors that immediately spread like wildfire throughout our family. It wasn’t until he actually took the earring out and showed us the magnet inside that we believed it was a joke and that he was still our old Uncle Jack. If an earring won’t be as shocking to your family, you can also use the magnetic stud as a nose ring or try a discretely placed temporary tattoo for a similar effect.

Magnetic Clip On Ear/Nose Studs Earrings

(buy it now price, $3.99)

Red Rose Temporary Tattoo

(buy it now price, $1.50)

The Boss Wants to See You
A couple of years ago, my ever-industrious coworkers convinced a higher-up to call me from his office, yell at me and accuse me of making an epic mistake at work. Of course, I was on speaker phone so that everyone else who’d gathered in his office could hear my timid reaction. Just as they were about to confess, I offered to walk to his office to work things out with him person. Imagine my surprise when I found the sneaks huddled together giggling instead of a furious boss—what a relief. We all cried we were laughing so hard at this April Fool's office prank. Try using these prank phone memo pads if you don’t have such conspiratorial colleagues. And keep one of these mugs in your desk drawer for an unexpected work situation that might indeed call for some serious kissing up.

80 Hilarious Office Prank Phone Message Pad

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New "World's Best Boss" Mug Michael Scott The Office

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The Faux Pet Switcheroo
I’d asked for a dog for so many years that my family finally decided to do something about it. Unbeknownst to me, they purchased a prank dog, which was actually a realistic but stuffed-animal-version of a yellow Labrador. When I came home one day, they told me someone furry was waiting for me in another room. I opened the door and squealed with delight, until I realized that I had been given yet another addition to my large stuffed animal collection. You could try the same. . . with a dog. . . or a rooster?

New Pug Melissa and Doug Plush Dog Life Size

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New Animal Feather Rooster Tan Taxidermy

(buy it now price, $14.99)

The Early Dismissal
I’m still thankful to my high school classmates for coming up with this April Fool's prank idea.:Set the clocks in your classroom or office forward by a few minutes (enough for it to be worth it, but not enough for it to be conspicuous), and—if you’re lucky like me— you’ll be home early for April Fools'. Another friend actually tape-recorded the ringing of his school’s bell, which signaled weekend dismissal. At the end of the last class of the day, he hit the play button on his recorder and had a slightly longer weekend as his creative reward.