16 April Fools’ Day Pranks To Play On Friends That Are Impressively Creative

A few sprays of air freshener can be a real saving grace in a stinky room, but too much of a good thing can be too much — even when it comes to Febreeze! Wrap a zip tie around the trigger of a Febreeze spray bottle to get a continuous (we're talkin' nonstop) flow going. Hide it in your friend's apartment and let them track the smell-"good" culprit down.

If your pal prefers a bar of soap to its liquid counterpart, they're leaving you with a wide open pranking opportunity. Sneak into the bathroom with a container of clear polish in your pocket and apply a thin layer all over the soap. Your friend will find that it's decidedly resistant to lathering up when they go for a scrub later.

Messing with someone's food is kind of the ultimate cruelty, but this prank is harmless... if a little gross. Assuming your friend stocks their pantry with Oreos, you can scrape out the cream frosting and add a little mayo in its place before suggesting that you share a cookie snack. Be sure that the Oreos are served quickly. Pranking your friend with mayonnaise is one thing, but pranking your friend with mayonnaise that's gone bad? Now we're getting into dangerous territory.

Pack your pal's car, cubicle, or bedroom with all the helium-filled balloons. It's the only prank that will both slow them down substantially and brighten up their day.

Not a friend of the paint job on your friend's car? Even if you are, you can give it a temporary update with a few dozen packs of sticky notes. You can pull this one off overnight or during your lunch break. Personalize it further by adding notes or drawings to the individual Post-Its.

Let's have a little fun with phones, shall we? Borrow your friend's device and create a line-up of wildly inconvenient keyboard shortcuts within their settings app. Set everyday words like "okay" or "hi" to turn into long, absurd words or phrases. If your friend is even a little tech savvy, they'll probably figure it out pretty quickly — but it will be a pretty hilarious few minutes in the meantime!

Is there a friend in your circle who's especially veggie-averse? Stop by with a box of donuts or fresh cookies... but not before you've switched out the baked goods for some raw spinach or broccoli.

I know this feels like a lot of phone-related pranks, but given how much time we all spend on our devices, it only makes sense that they'd been the prime target for a little harmless April Fools' fun. Update your contact information in your friend's phone so that your name is "Mom," then follow up later in the day with some un-Mom-like messages.

Do you prefer a louder prank? Use duct tape to attach an airhorn to the rubber bumper that protects the wall from the door handle in your co-worker's office. They'll get quite a surprise — and an earful — when they walk in the door.

This is a simple prank, but also a great opportunity to see just how much your friend has your back, even if it's a little awkward. Pick up a chewing gum hair clip, slip it into your locks, and see how long it takes for your pal to mention that you might have a sticky problem on your hands. When they rush to find some peanut butter to help you remedy the situation, you know you're looking at a true friend.

Stick a dinosaur figurine or plastic lizard in your friend's mailbox. If you prefer a kinder, gentler prank, you can use a cute stuffed animal or balloon instead.

This prank seems to be popular among the Pinterest Mom set, but its simplicity and sense of wordplay makes it perfect for just about anyone. Promise your friends or colleagues a tray of brownies (the chocolate ones) on Apr. 1, but show up with a tray of letter E's cut out of brown construction paper. Cover the tray with foil to up the surprise factor.

OK, so... this one is pretty mean. Get yourself in the kitchen and use onions in place of apples in a caramel apple recipe. Offer one to a friend... then run away. Clearly, the time you use to do this and the ingredients you buy are going to all go to waste, so be ready for that.

Sneak into a pal's ice cube tray and have a field day. You can drop Mentos or other candy into water before it freezes or pour in a different liquid instead.

Use a Q-tip to swab the inside of your friend's faucet with red food coloring and watch as the water runs red. If you like the general idea of this prank but don't want things to look quite so bloody, you can use another color!

Let's finish things up with one more way to mess with your friend's phone. Borrow their device and set a bunch of random alarms to go off throughout the day and night. The more, the merrier! Why not use different ringtones while you're at it to really make things extra annoying?