Recently, a group of gals and I started reminiscing on pranks. With April Fool’s Day in sight, I’m sharing my favorites, plus a warning. Watch. Your. Back.
As part of the generation that grew up watching Ashton Kutcher’s Punk’d and epic hidden camera moments with Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé, pranking was a fundamental part of my millennial childhood.
It was a simpler time. I once tricked my older brother into biting into a sandwich I’d made with a Kraft singles cheese slice that still had the plastic wrapping.
Joe: “Why are you laughing?”
Me: “Eat up, and I’ll tell yah!” (A Dumb and Dumber film quote—a perfect response.)
Prank phone calls could easily entertain my sister and me for longer than I’d care to admit. During the landline era and before most people had caller ID, there was no limit to creativity.
“Hey Cactus Butt!” The only line I remember saying on the phone, but one that resulted in uncontrollable fits of laughter.
Before Ring video doorbells, Saran wrapping cars or ding-dong ditching were also popular during this time. Billy Madison inspired a generation of ding-dong ditchers to light a bag of dog poop on fire. Barbara’s line still cracks me up all these years later.
Old Man Clemens: “Barbara, it’s one of those flaming bags again.”
Barbara: “Don’t put it out with your boots, Ted.”
Some of the BEST pranks occurred while at Penn State. When I was a freshman on the girl’s lacrosse team, our crew had to do the following acts at an ungodly hour of the morning . . .
Fork the lawn: Get your mind out of the gutter. This was taking plastic forks and placing them throughout the boys lacrosse house’s lawn. When someone tries to pull it out the fork breaks. It’s obnoxious. Bonus: we put goldfish in their bathtub and toilets.
All the Balls: Again, just wholesome fun, not dirty. Thanks to a 24-hour Walmart, we bought all different types of balls (tennis, bouncy, big, small, you get the idea). We hauled them to the guy’s ice hockey house and filled the first floor of their home.
This wasn’t for my lacrosse initiation, but a college prank nonetheless. To my roommates’ disgust, I used to make tuna fish salad all the time because it was easy and cheap. I soon surrendered making it because I accepted that it was well—stinky.
Having extra tuna fish cans around and a need for a prank retaliation for an offensive drawing at our apartment complex, an evil plan came to fruition. A playboy laxer got a can of tuna fish under his bed. Bad in itself, but it was a decoy can. We hid a second can of tuna under his bed riser (remember that classic storage hack?). Anyway, when he found the first can, he thought he found the stench. I loved asking girls who entered the playboy’s room, “does it smell . . . odd?” They replied, “yes, it did.”
What are YOUR greatest pranks? Comment below. I’m always on the hunt for a good one!
Lauren's Law 