I’ve always loved practical jokes, especially April Fool’s Jokes. I’m the one who learned the hard way (more than once) that practical jokes can go too far. Like the time I wore a ski mask and took a big butcher knife to a friend’s house and banged on the door when her parents weren’t home. Or the time I stole all my suite mate’s underwear in college. (Which didn’t seem like an overstep, but to her very much was.) I can’t remember all of my oversteps and all the angry friends, but there were many more. (Friends, feel free to remind me in the comments.)
So being an expert in failure, I’m going to give you a few tips for successful April Fool’s Jokes that won’t end your friendships or start a family feud. 
Nothing permanent. No tattoos, marriages, or Fatal-Attraction-style boiled bunnies. You’d think I wouldn’t need to say this, but you’d be wrong. Even things that might permanently stain are best avoided.
No ski masks and butcher knives. Again, you’d think I wouldn’t need to say this. But somewhere out there, another me is thinking this sounds like a good idea. Scary pranks are usually bad pranks.
Nothing like the 80s movie April Fool’s Day. Which has elements of both of the first two. Pretending to kill all your friends one by one only to have a party in the end (spoiler alert!) is never a good start to the day.
Don’t pick someone’s soft spot. To my suite mate, this was apparently her underwear. To people struggling with fertility, pregnancy jokes are in poor taste. To anyone a fake death or terminal illness joke is not a joke. You get the idea.
Avoid anything that might have someone calling the cops. No stolen cars or money, no prank calls with death threats, no missing kids or pets. And once again with the butcher knives.
You got it? I think that’s a pretty basic list. Now here are a few ideas that won’t have anyone calling the police.
Unscrew all the light bulbs two or three turns. Turn them far enough to stop working, but not far enough to fall out. Only do the lights that you can easily access—no ceiling or special lights you’d have to unscrew. This gives the appearance that some phenomenal electrical issue has befallen the home. I did this when I was in junior high and my parents thought something happened to the circuit breaker. No one was hurt; no police were called. (Though an electrician almost was.)
Rubber-band your kitchen sprayer. This is Rob’s personal favorite that he tried on his Mom as a kid. Not all homes have them, but for the sinks that do, this is the little sprayer nozzle that you can lift and move around the sink and has a little lever at the back that needs to be depressed in order to work. Simple aim the sprayer out toward the place where someone is most likely to stand at the sink and use a rubber band to depress that lever. When the sink is turned on, the sprayer will engage and spray whoever turned it on.
Changing all the clocks in the house. Set all clocks to the same time, but make it FORWARD. You don’t want people to be late. Better to be early than late and miss a job interview or pick up a kid from school.
Pie in the face. This is not subtle or sophisticated. Some people might not like it, but it isn’t permanent and will make kids laugh. Plus there is always retaliation. 
My boys and I got together with Roxy of Grrfeisty—a blogger friend and derby teammate. The guise was that I’d help her with a What I Wore shoot, since she is a fashion (and lifestyle) blogger. I also knew she’d be a good sport for the pie in the face. Or…hair, as it were.
I also knew she would be good for a little revenge. As a jammer for our team, she’s a quick little thing. Too quick even for Sawyer, who clearly likes jokes better than backlash, however well deserved. 
That’s not the only thing we teamed up on. This week, we are giving away two (TWO!!) fabulous prizes! One $100 Amazon gift card and one $50 Amazon gift card! Rafflecopter will do all the work for you and this will be easy entry for our followers. For those of you that don’t already follow Feisty, she is full of crafty, puppy (and kitty) magic, plus adorable pint-sized fashion. And roller derby, of course. Like and follow for your chance to win! The winners will be chosen at random by Rafflecopter next Monday evening. You can even add more entries daily by Tweeting. Sweet! Good luck to you all!
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