activities · April fools · celebrate · engage · fun · imagination · jokes · party · play · pranks · StairSlide · toys · treats · Mar 31, 2022

How To Do April Fool’s Day Right

Does your family participate in April Fool’s Day, or does it usually end in hurt feelings? Sometimes the line between “Haha! You got me!” and “No! Why’d you do that?!” can be blurry. So I understand the hesitation, but follow this guide, and it’s possible to stay firmly on the “haha” side and love April Fool’s Day.

All Eyes On You

What makes anything instantly funny? If you guessed googly eyes, you are correct! If you said a whoopee cushion, you're close but no. The only necessity for this prank is googly eyes which are surprisingly cheap. Next, apply the googly eyes to anything you can think of; the only limit is your creativity! Maybe stick them on everything in your fridge? Put googly eyes on all your family portraits (I think that has the potential to be creepy, though)? Or personify all your houseplants?

Laugh break: SNL sketch of Christopher Walken putting googly eyes on all his plants.
Balloon Avalanche

What better way to start the day than being rained on by balloons? Honestly, I'm drawing a blank. This surprise is easy to set up, and the effect is worth it. It's hard not to have a happy day if this how the world greets you.

What You’ll Need:

+ Crepe paper
+ Balloons
+ Tape
+ Balloon pump (optional

What Now?

+ Begin at the bottom of the door and tape the crepe paper across the frame.
+ Leave a slight slack in the crepe paper for the balloons to fit.
+ Fit the balloons between the door and the crepe paper.
+ Do this row by row and inch towards the top of the door. This way, you can make sure the balloons fit without wasting time and tape.

Watch it in action! From the Youtube channel Fun with Mama
Bubble Wrap Under the Rug

The title is probably self-explanatory. Hiding bubble wrap sheets under the rug might give the unsuspecting target a slight freak-out that they stepped on something valuable or make them do a quick panicky tiptoe dance off the carpet. Either way, it’ll be fun to watch.
Bug Infestation

Get sneaky with some plastic bugs and slip them into little hiding places: a drawer, in the fridge, or maybe in their bed? Anywhere that will give someone a little scare. Just be careful if anyone in your house has a severe phobia of bugs; if someone does, maybe skip this one.

(Extra points if you hang up some plastic spiders from fishing wire in the doorway)
Heart Attack

This prank is slightly different from the other ones I have listed. You can do this as a family activity for the next-door neighbor or anyone you think might need a little pick-me-up.

What You’ll Need:

+ Colored construction paper
+ Glue
+ Popsicle sticks
+ Scissors

What Now?

+ Cut out as many hearts as you want–make sure it’s enough for the target to feel overwhelmed with love.
+ Glue them to the popsicle sticks.
+ Poke the popsicle sticks in their lawn.

If you want to do this for someone who doesn’t necessarily have a front lawn, like someone within your household, taping the hearts around their door will have the same effect. Also, always be prepared to help clean this prank up.

Treat Pranks

There are a lot of “treat” based pranks that leave a bad taste in your mouth. Literally. For example, caramel-dipped onions posing as apples is a lose-lose situation; the perpetrator wastes perfectly good onions and caramel, and the victim is crying. I don’t know if they would be crying because they’ve been robbed of a yummy snack or their eyes are sensitive to onions, but there will be tears either way. Plus, who wants to spend time making a treat you can’t eat?

Let’s talk about some treat pranks that actually pay off in giggles and happy tummies!

Raisin Cookies (Or are they?!)

Everyone gets disappointed when they bite into a chocolate cookie to learn it’s a raisin cookie. It’s like the little joke, “Raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip cookies are the reason I have trust issue.” But we flip it, reverse it, and bop it to, “Chocolate chip cookies that look like raisin cookies are the reason I believe in unexpected awesomeness.”

You can use any chocolate chip recipe you like, but if you’re not fortunate enough to own a mixer (the Kitchenaid quart tilt-head stand mixer in pistachio is on my vision board), I found the recipe for you from the mommy blog, Mom On Timeout. It’s super easy to make and de-lish-ous.

P.S. Don’t pull this prank on dogs
Potted Pudding

We did this in our household every year when I was younger, and I loved it! I wasn’t even a big fan of pudding or gummy worms, but the second the sweets were combined in a clay pot, it became my favorite dessert. You don’t have to use a terra-cotta pot or a fake flower, but I always thought it was half the fun.

What you’ll need:

+ Small terra-cotta pot (amount depends on how many you want to make)
+ 1 pkg. of Oreos finely crushed
+ Desired amount of gummy worms
+ Desired amount of chocolate pudding cups
*If you want to make your own pudding (serves 10)
+ 1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding
+ 2 cups cold milk
+ 1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip Topping thawed
+ Whisk pudding mix and milk in a large bowl for 2 min. Let it stand for 5 min. Mix in ½ cup of the cookie crumbs.

What now?

+ Pour pudding into the terra cotta pots (our your preferred containers)
+ Cover pudding with cookie crumbs
+ Stick gummy worms in each pot

Optional: Stick a fake flower in the pot (daisies are especially cute)