16 April Fools’ Day Prank Concepts to Trick the Senses

One in all my favourite happiness-project resolutions is to “Have fun minor holidays,” and certainly one of my favourite minor holidays is April Fools’ Day.

I all the time attempt to prank members of my household—in a straightforward, enjoyable, light means. Nothing too upsetting—and nothing very taxing for me to arrange.

I’ve turned a carton of milk shiny inexperienced with meals dye, frozen a bowl of cereal, and posted a large picture of swimming fish inside my daughter’s bathroom bowl.

As I write about in my new e book Life in 5 Senses, final yr I used “Gelling Joke” to show my daughter Eleanor’s beverage into (non-toxic) sludge. Even I used to be startled by how efficient these items is!

This yr, I used to be out of concepts, so I requested listeners of the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast for his or her recommendations.

I requested for pranks that made use of the 5 senses, however as I learn individuals’s solutions, I noticed that many April Fools’ pranks play on the 5 senses, by confounding our expectations indirectly.

One thing doesn’t style the best way we count on, or it doesn’t look the best way we count on, or it’s a shocking shade, or it pops out unexpectedly…that’s the enjoyable of the prank!

A distinct form of prank is by shocking somebody with (false) info.

As soon as, on a household spring-break journey, I informed my younger daughters that they couldn’t use the pool, as a result of it needed to be drained for some motive. They had been so upset, however tried to be so cheap about it! I broke down and informed them the reality instantly. Now I desire sensory pranks.

Listed here are a few of my favorites concepts from listeners, that are the entire sensory type:

Flip every bit of clothes within the drawers and closet inside out. Bonus hack: A yr later, you may establish and donate any unworn, nonetheless inside-out garments.
Eat dessert earlier than dinner.
Lower out lots of the letter “E” from brown paper, put them in a pan coated in foil, and provide your loved ones or coworkers some scrumptious “brown-Es.”
A basic: short-sheeting.
Cover card inventory between the frosting and cookie of an Oreo.
Save packages from the mail and place an enormous stack of empty packing containers outdoors the entrance door, to make your loved ones assume you’ve gone on a large spree.
On the toilet-paper roll, draw a spider with a Sharpie or glue a plastic spider, so that it’ll come out at any time when somebody pulls the paper.
Change luggage of cereal into completely different packing containers, in order that when a member of the family pours out their favourite cereal, the mistaken type lands of their bowl.
Put googly eyes on issues throughout the home. [This is my very favorite idea!]
Put a drop of meals coloring within the backside of a glass, in order that when a beverage is poured in, it magically turns into one other shade. [Food dye is a great tool for the April Fools’ trickster.]
Swap vanilla frosting for toothpaste.
Form Starbursts into “child carrots.”
Fill a cardboard field with grime and enhance it like a cake.
Substitute sugar for salt or vice versa, swap mayonnaise for pudding, or use shaving cream instead of whipped cream.
Swap objects in a do-it-yourself college lunch with wrapped wooden blocks or pretend meals (however don’t neglect to incorporate lunch cash).
Breakfast for dinner, or dinner for breakfast.

For extra concepts, have a look:

I like these form of enjoyable, simple traditions. They construct happiness as a result of they mark the passage of time in a particular means, they’re memorable, they’re light-hearted, they usually contribute to a way of group identification. The issues that go mistaken usually make the perfect reminiscences—even when these issues are deliberately “mistaken.”

And something that makes us snort is sweet!

What are a few of your favourite April Fools’ Day pranks—both ones that you simply’ve performed on others, or that others have performed on you?