11 harmless April Fools Day pranks, if you need a little fun to brighten your day

We’ve used this one before, but it’s harmless and funny. As Mashable’s Chloe Bryan pointed out last year, The Ferret Association of Connecticut publishes three regular newsletters.

10 Best April Fools Pranks

Whether it was in the office or at home, cleverly thought out or spur of the moment, executed brilliantly or a big flop; we’ve all be victim of an April Fools prank in our time. This year, it’s time to get your own back. Get ahead of the game with these hilarious pranks and, come tomorrow, watch your friends/colleagues/family squirm. Happy April Fools Day!

1. Clingfilm Your Friends Car, , 2. Cover your friend’s car in post it notes. Time consuming but ultimately worth it., , 3. Tooth paste in the Oreos, , 4. Place an air horn in an appropriately hilarious place. The Whoopi cushion of the office., , 4. Tin Foil EVERYTHING, , 5. A Cleverly placed sign is simple yet effective, , 6. Stick a £2 to the floor and watch people try to pick it up, , 7. Repeated call a work colleague asking for Ben. Then have someone pretend to be Ben at the end of the day and ask for his messages., , 8. Change all the folder names on a colleague’s desktop to embarrassing names., , 9. Put all your colleague’s belongings in the vending machine a la Dwight Schrute (The Office)., , 10. Fill donuts with mayo and serve them to friends/leave them in the office for people to eat. Extra points if you can find a Crispy Creme box to put them in.,

Become a Gentleman’s Journal Member?

Like the Gentleman’s Journal? Why not join the Clubhouse, a special kind of private club where members receive offers and experiences from hand-picked, premium brands. You will also receive invites to exclusive events, the quarterly print magazine delivered directly to your door and your own membership card.

11 harmless April Fools’ Day pranks, if you need a little fun to brighten your day

Times are weird. Things are awful. There’s a deadly pandemic sweeping the world.

But you can still have some (harmless) fun on April Fools’ Day. Let us be super, super, (super, super) clear: Now is the not the time for cruel pranks that risk seriously hurting feelings or causing bodily harm. Honestly, it’s never the time for those sorts of pranks — they’re not funny, they’re mean — but it’s especially not the time right now.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled some fun, easy pranks you can pull off while you’re isolating at home.

Have a good time but remember to be kind to one another, take care of your loved ones, and stay inside.

1. Sign them up for a weird mailing list

We’ve used this one before, but it’s harmless and funny. As Mashable’s Chloe Bryan pointed out last year, The Ferret Association of Connecticut publishes three regular newsletters.

2. The what’s that on your shirt and then zip your finger up to their nose prank

I mean. the name says it all.

3. Text a typing dots GIF

Since we’re all keeping in touch digitally, you can prank a friend by sending them a GIF of the dots that indicate you’re typing. They’ll be waiting for a message in perpetuity.

4. Use texting auto-replace tool

Here’s another one we’ve walked you through before. Basically you can set up a phone to replace a word — such as “hi” — with anything you choose.

How to set auto-correct on an iPhone:

• Click on Settings
• Go to General
• Hit the Keyboard
• And then click into Text Replacement, and get after it.

How to replace text in iPhone easy prank. Credit: mashable

5. Plastic wrap a shampoo bottle

Unscrew the top, cover the hole where the shampoo comes out, reattach the top. Bam, an unsuspecting victim can’t squeeze out a single drop.

6. Hide random photos

When I was in high school, my group of friends pranked our favorite teacher by hiding pictures of the actor Zach Braff — my teacher was not a fan of the Scrubs star — all over his classroom. I’m talking dozens of photos of all sizes in all kinds of places. Somewhere in my old high school, there’s likely a random picture of Zach Braff that was never found.

Anyway, with everyone isolating at home, you’ve got nothing but time to do this to whomever you may be isolating with.

7. Replace photos

Again, as we mentioned before, it can be funny to swap out family photos with other, stranger options. Steve Buscemi is always a favorite.

8. Eat pudding like it’s mayo

A simple prank courtesy of BuzzFeed: Put vanilla pudding in a mayo jar and watch in horror as people see you eat it by the spoonful. Maybe try it out on Instagram.

9. Tie someone’s shoelaces together

Don’t do this prank if the person is a total klutz. But it’s a simple prank that’ll get a small chuckle. (That is, if anyone is still wearing shoes during isolation?)

10. “OMG, look a bear”

Basically be the person who cried bear. Is it dumb? You bet. Will it get someone to run to the window? Maybe. Good enough.

11. Tape the TV remote sensor

A simple, brilliant prank idea via Bustle. If you tape over a TV remote sensor, you can watch as your mark can’t change the channel.

OK, so there are some ideas. But do us a favor and stay inside while you do these easy pranks. Be safe and have fun.

Tim Marcin is a culture reporter at Mashable, where he writes about food, fitness, weird stuff on the internet, and, well, just about anything else. You can find him posting endlessly about Buffalo wings on Twitter at @timmarcin.