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April's Fools - Best Non-Holiday

Updated on May 25, 2014

April Fools Pizza

The perfect non-holiday Holiday.

All fools day dates back to 1562. Pope Gregory XIII adopted the Gregorian calendar which is today’s most common accepted calendar. Although Eastern Orthodox and Protestants countries continue today to use the Julian calendar, international trade, United Nations, and the Universal Postal Union have all adopted the Gregorian calendar. During the transition many people were unaware of the new calendar and were mocked and made fun of. The first written recording is thought to be Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in 1392. Another theory during the middle ages New Years was a week long celebration that began on March 25th ending on April 1st. Those who celebrated on other dates including January 1st thought them to be fools. There are many other theories associated with April 1st; however they all have a common thread of one group thinking another group as fools.

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Celebrated All Over The World

Pranks, gags, and practical jokes are plotted and carried out all over the world. In Scotland they celebrate Hunt the Gowk Day. Gowk means cuckoo or foolish and pranks are usually passed from one person to another. In Iran the 13th day of the Persian New Year is April 1st or 2nd, and is called Sizdah Bedar. This is the oldest prank tradition in the world dating back to 536 BC. Italy, France, Belgium and French Canada celebrate April’s fish. The idea here is to attach a paper fish to ones back without being noticed. However it was in Poland when the anti-Turkish alliance with Leopold I originally to have been signed on April 1st was backdated to March 31.

10 April 1st Announcements

Prank Etiquette

There are a few things that have to be taken into account when planning your fun filled April fool’s Day.

  • Know the person the prank is intended for very well. Take into consideration their personality, likes and dislikes.
  • Ensure there will be no destruction of property or costly damage to anyone.
  • Be able to let the victim know it is a prank.
  • Use your imagination.

The intention for the day is to be lighthearted, have fun and enjoy yourself. If you can recruit allies, the joke is usually bigger and the retaliation can be shared. The best gag is played on a large group of people in general. Tape some magnets to the bottom of a coffee cup and place on top of your car. See how many reactions you can get as you are driving. Another is to stand on a busy sidewalk or the middle of a multi level building and point upward while staring at the sky. See how many people look up as well.

Replace your Toilet Paper

Easy Family Pranks

There are many different people or groups of people you can play tricks on throughout the day. Some of the most popular pranks to play on your family are:

  • If your sink has a sprayer, place a rubber band around the handle holding it down. Make sure the nozzle is facing forward. The next time someone turns on the water they will be sprayed.
  • Super glue a coin to your front step or sidewalk.
  • Replace the center of an Oreo cookie with toothpaste or ricotta cheese.
  • Get some chocolate covered raisons and place on top of peanut butter spread on celery. After eaten let all know they have eaten chocolate covered crickets.
  • Take a dozen plain doughnuts and pump mayonnaise into them.

Taco Bell Liberty Bell

Museum of Hoaxes

The number one prank ever played according to The Museum of Hoaxes is the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest. In 1957 BBC had reported that due to the mild winter and the elimination of the weevil there would be a bumper spaghetti crop. Pictures of several crop workers were shown picking spaghetti from trees. This generated hundreds and hundreds of calls and inquiries to the studio want to know how to grow their own pasta. One of the best corporate gag that has also made it to the Museum happened in 1996, when Taco Bell took a full page ad in several major newspapers showing Taco Bell purchasing the Liberty Bell.

2nd Graders Share April Fool's Gags

Favorite Prank Accessory

Great Gags for Mom & Dad

Great gags that can also be done a home for parents by children are:

  • The final joke of the day can be shaking a fair amount of salt onto the night time tooth brush.
  • Paint a bar of soap completely with clear nail polish, it will not suds up in the shower.
  • Place plastic wrap around the toilet seat.
  • Make a bowl of Jell-O and place a favorite trinket inside before it sets up.
  • Hard-boil some eggs and place back in the egg carton.
  • Place food coloring into the windshield wiper spray.
  • Cover the remote control sensor with a piece of tape.

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Great Co-worker Jokes

There are many jokes that can be played on your coworkers. The ability to manipulate technology today can add to the laughter at work. Some top jokes for work are:

  • Change the language on your co-workers computer.
  • Attach a small piece of paper over the ball under someone’s computer mouse.
  • Add a wireless mouse to a computer and control the pointer from another location.
  • Place Vaseline on the phone piece of a desk top phone.
  • Change the keys typed on a person’s name.

Go into Microsoft Word

  1. Click on Tools
  2. Select Autocorrect Options
  3. Check the” Replace text as you type box”
  4. Type in your friends name in the replace box
  5. Type A P R I L F O O L in the with box
  6. Click Add
  7. Click OK

Pregnancy Favorite

A Prank A Year In The Making

One of the best retaliated pranks for grandparent s to play on their adult children can be done today with a little bit of help. For a couple of years in a row I had been called on April 1st and told I was going to be a grandmother. Being an active participant in celebrating the non-holiday of April Fools I asked them to send me proof. Take pictures of a pregnancy test and send to me. I had decided I would have some fun on my own. The next year I found a picture of an ultrasound on the internet of a newborn in the first trimester. I emailed a copy of it along with a note to my daughters telling them their father and I was beside ourselves and did not know what to do as we were in fact pregnant. The extra time it spent researching the internet paid off as the phone calls were received. I also go to prank my husband as he was not let in on the joke until after he spent several minutes not breathing.


As you celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of spring embrace the non-holiday and have fun. Let your imagination run wild and remember corporations, news, TV, local communities, and best of all your loved ones are all fair game.

© 2014 Pamela Stanford

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