14 Easy April Fools' Day Pranks To Play On Anyone

So, you want to participate in some easy April Fools' Day pranks, but you're feeling kind of lazy. Sure, the payoff from hollowing out a solid chocolate bunny and replacing its once delicious cacao insides with stone-ground mustard is huge — can't you just see Carlene's face? — but are you seriously going to undertake that challenge? I mean, it's a whole thing with the gentle unwrapping of the foil so it doesn't tear, and the mechanical skill alone that it would take to actually dig a tiny groove inside the candy is kind of off-putting... and then the waste of chocolate... It just really seems like too much. We all love a great April Fools' Day prank, but if it requires the skill set of a gemologist, I'll be the first to bow out.

If your goal is minimum effort with maximum impact, April Fools' logic dictates you should know your target pretty well. For instance, are they likely to be very angry with you if you stuff a photo of a clown in their dresser drawer? If they are, would you care, or do you really love getting under their skin? See, this isn't a silly holiday, it's one that requires a lot of planning and calculation if you want to do it right, even if you want to do it the lazy way.

Never fear, pranking your friends and family doesn't have to be complicated, it just takes a little bit of research. Check out 14 of the easiest April Fools' Day pranks around. Prepare your apologies in advance.

1. Paint Soap With Nail Polish So It Won't Lather

We're easing into this one with a harmless trick. Use clear nail polish to paint a bar of soap so it will no longer lather. Frustration points are going to be high on this one, and no one gets hurt. Maybe this is best for grandma or your super-sensitive BFF? It's up to you to decide, but it's certainly not a tough set up, it's just kind of tedious. Lots of tiny brush strokes.

2. Mix Skittles And M&Ms In The Same Bowl

You dirty dog. Messing with people's taste expectations is one of the simplest yet most effective methods of trickery, and it's as old as the hills. If you can open a bag of candy, you can pull this one off. Additional requirements: a cold, cold heart and experience begging for forgiveness.

3. Change Your Contact Info In Your Friend's Phone And Send Weird Messages From "Mom"

Are you interested in spending a few minutes here and there pranking your target all day? Whenever you're able to snag your friend's phone, switch your name to "Mom" and switch Mom to yours, then let your freak flag fly. Unless you've got a mother like mine, who routinely sends messages that you can only respond to with a half smile, a disapproving and confused head shake, and a "WTF are you talking about?" text, then your friend is going to be quite surprised by Mom's mood today.

4. Send An Endless "Typing" GIF

Now, you can send a GIF of possibly the most anxiety-inducing visual of our modern, millennial age, the dreaded three dots that signify "so-and-so is still typing." Why would you do this, you ask? Some people just want to watch the world burn. Download the three-dot GIF here, and send it to a friend when you're in the middle of a text conversation. Bonus points for this one because, once it's downloaded, you can use it multiple times. Prepare to drive your friends crazy all day.

5. Glue A Quarter To The Sidewalk

So simple, yet so effective. If you've got a window seat at work, this will keep you entertained for hours. The only drawback is that you probably score really high on the MACH-IV, and no one can help you with this problem.

6. Replace Oreo Cream With Toothpaste

By now, my stance on April 1 trickery is pretty clear: Don't mess with my food. However, if you are soulless and would like to mess with your friends' food, I'm here to give you more ideas. Offer your S.O. a few Oreos, the centers of which you have artfully scraped away and replaced with your preferred brand of toothpaste, and watch as they become nauseous. This is an awful, awful thing to do to someone you love, mainly because toothpaste is not edible, and I'm judging you for even considering it.

7. Ask A friend What Their ETA Is When You Have No Plans

Out of nowhere, send a message that simply says, "ETA?" and wait for a frantic reply. "Wait, do we have plans?" or "What are you talking about?" are guaranteed responses. Extra points awarded to you if you decide not to clarify your statement and follow up with a simple, "We're getting started, so hurry," then ignore them for the rest of the day. Whew. This one is cruel.

8. "Slash" Your Friends' Tires

Please, please, in the name of all that is holy, do this to someone. Grab a photo of Slash — yes, the legendary Guns N' Roses guitarist — and tape it to someone's driver-side tire. Even better, do it randomly in a parking lot. Think of all the April Fools' Day joy you'll be spreading to complete strangers! It's kind of like performing a random act of kindness for those clever enough to pick up on the play on words. Like an angel of funny, you came to Earth, you slashed someone's tires, and you disappeared without asking anything in return.

9. Airhorn Your Co-Worker's Chair

Nothing is as unnerving as an ear-shattering blast from an airhorn at a sporting event, so imagine just how terrible/terribly funny it will be when Allan prepares to relax in his favorite rolly chair, only to set one of those things off. Use packing tape to secure the can of the air horn to the base of the chair, and position it just under the seat so when your unsuspecting co-worker relaxes into it, the horn is set off. Thankfully, this is more of a one-and-done prank, unless you decide to move the airhorn around the office throughout the day. Hmm...

10. nCage Someone's Entire Online Universe

Download a browser extension that morphs every photo on your friend's Chrome into one of Nicolas Cage. Get nCage here, get it now. This is the best decision you'll make all day, so don't even think about it. Just pick a victim, and begin plotting a way to gain access to their computer as soon as possible. Set up an elaborate distraction so they leave it unattended, recruit other friends for help, do whatever you have to do, just make sure this April Fools' trick happens.

11. Freeze The Home Screen On Someone's Phone

Simple, extremely annoying, but totally innocent. Take a screenshot of the home screen (press Power + Home buttons at once). Hold the Home button until their apps start wiggling, drag all their Home Screen apps to the right onto another screen. Press the Home button when done to stop the wiggling. Go to Settings > Wallpapers & Brightness > Choose A New Wallpaper and set their Home Screen wallpaper to the screenshot you just took. Stifle your giggles from across the room.

12. Freeze Your Child's Cereal The Night Before

Parents, you know you like to get in on the mischief, too. This easy trick will bring a smile to your kid's face as soon as they realize their spoon is going nowhere fast in that bowl of Frosted Flakes. If they don't enjoy this silly, innocent prank, maybe it's time to talk about how to take problems in stride and the importance of staying cool under pressure, then you can make a terrible pun about the temperature of their breakfast. Look at that — a teachable moment brought to you by April Fools'.

13. Cover The TV Remote Sensor With Tape

Oh, the endless joy of watching your S.O., parent, or sibling fumble angrily with the electronic devices. No one thinks to check the sensor, so you're probably good for a solid 20 minutes of steadily increasing agitation before they even come close to figuring it out. Just make sure to cut a very slim piece of tape and apply it with extreme precision or risk the fun ending early.

14. Perform A Hostile Takeover Of Your Friend's Autocorrect

Nothing like ducking autocorrect, right? By now, we probably all know how to hijack our friend's shortcuts, but in case you've never tried it before, follow these instructions: On your friend’s phone, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Add New Shortcut, then change “OK” to “why." Feel free to make these swaps as personal as you want... and even replace entire phrases. So evil and so easy, because let's face it, you can't un-send that message.

See? It doesn't take much work for boundless laughs at the expense of the ones you love the most. I never prank anyone on April Fools' Day, but I'm suddenly feeling the urge to reach out to some friends.

"... ETA?"

Images: Pixabay; Fotolia; Wifflegif.com (7)