Silly little pranksters
A month of tricks and mischief...on any day but April Fools' Day.
If you know me at all, you know I like to preach the gospel of silliness. If you know me very well, you know that my month of April was overtaken by a full-on prank-a-thon.
Some backstory: my sister lives near most of her best friends from college, a sitcom set-up that lends itself to daily hangs and occasional hijinks. For example, they plan to travel to every location referenced in the Kokomo song, and they recently organized an Olympics-themed field day in Prospect Park.
It’s a joy to see their community thrive, and I step in every now and then as their creative director to inspire even more fun and merriment. When a friend in the group mentioned that her New Year’s Resolution was to be goofier, I began riffing on how to help her meet this mission.
Emily’s resolution turned into a group project: Any day but April Fools’ Day. Twelve silly little pranksters committed to pranking one another after April Fools’ Day but before the end of the month.
This is a story best told in screenshots. We kicked things off by hammering out a few ground rules, and I’m happy to report we stuck to most of them.
Pranking turned out to be serious business. We prepped and slept with one eye open. We had prank master generals and twelve group chats. We had a semi-complete spreadsheet, a Splitwise account, and decoy pranks to throw people off the scent. Planning a month full of tomfoolery began to feel a bit like this:
Despite all this project management, we still hit some roadblocks. Some pranks were foiled and others never got off the ground (RIP the grand “pig”-nale) . We had to plan around last-minute work trips, birthday parties and, most dauntingly, Easter weekend:
We ended up with an eclectic mix of personality pranks and classics with a twist. Some involved breaking and entering and others involved multiple nights of arts and crafts.
Without further ado, the full round-up of pranks:
🧀 We filled Nate’s rock-climbing chalk bag with spray cheese.
🖼️ We replaced Michael’s family photos and wall art with female nudes.
👕 We showed up to hibachi dinner wearing matching T-shirts with Erika’s face.
🥤We created an obstacle course in front of Tim’s doorway with 160 cups of water.
💊 We sent an email to Emily that CVS was terminating her beloved rewards program.
🥛 We pointed water guns at John and sprayed him with his favorite drink, whole milk.
👦🏼 We took a decades-old meme that features Mark, turned it into a stencil, and spray-painted the image outside of his climbing gym.
💨 We hid with a megaphone near an outdoor tennis court and played fart noises whenever it was Eddy’s turn to serve.
📹 We sent Al a video with family and friends reciting her fave pop culture references. (This was our second try after her whoopee cushion prank literally deflated).
👩🏽🎨 We hired an acquaintance to pose as a caricature artist and sketch Malu in a bizarre way, knowing that she’d be clinically unable to say a mean thing.
And as for me, I found my studio fully wrapped in toilet paper, along with my sister who was hiding in my tub and ready to give me the jump- scare of my life. 🧻🧻🧻
This post was just an excuse for me to spend an obscene amount of time on iMovie and stitch reaction videos together for your viewing pleasure. Watch through the end!
I learned a lot from this silly experiment. First, never underestimate the capacity of a mischievous mind. It can produce games of tricks and deceit beyond your wildest dreams.
Second, a month of pranking will reveal who’s quick on their feet (not me) and who will panic right before the grand reveal (me).
But mostly, I had a chance to practice what I preach, and found a group of goofballs crazy enough to do it with me.
Stay silly,
LG aka Lauren aka Lali Gonzali
This is incredible!
😂😂😂