April Fools’ Day pranks 2021: best jokes and ideas that are funny, easy, and really annoying

April Fools’ Day has been celebrated on 1 April for hundreds of years, with its origins tracing back to 1582.

Every year the day comes around and members of the population are sorted into two categories - those who pull off the pranks, and those who fall for them.

If you’re struggling to think of some pranks to play this year, then look no further - here are 10 of the best jokes, pranks and ideas to try your hand at.

Fake ‘chocolate’ Easter eggs

This is a great one for parents looking to trick their children with an Easter-themed prank.

All it involves is a packet of mini chocolate eggs that have foil wrappers and a carton of grapes - you can probably guess where this is going.

Delicately unwrap the chocolates from their foil and re-wrap the grapes with said foil. Offer your kids some of the “chocolate” eggs and be prepared to shout “April fools!” when they realise they’ve been tricked.

Impossible Easter egg hunt

Another good (and mean) one for parents trying to get one up on their children, the impossible Easter egg hunt is a great one - both as a prank and as a method to get you some peace and quiet (at least for a little while).

Simply send the kids out into the garden, or local park, and tell them that you’ve arranged an Easter egg hunt. Whilst your children are excitedly looking for the hidden chocolates, little do they know is that there aren’t any actually to be found.

Once you’ve let them hunt for a while, it might be best to actually have some chocolate to give them to make up for how upset they might be that it was just an April Fools’ joke!

Frozen breakfast

This one requires some preparation - the night before April Fools, or a few hours before you want to pull off your prank, stick a bowl of milk and cereal in the freezer.

Place the frozen breakfast offering in front of your unsuspecting victim and wait until they try to dig their spoon into it. April Fools!

Fake tattoo

This one can be done in a variety of ways, but is guaranteed to get a big reaction. If you’re living with the person you want to prank, you’ll need to get your hands on some fake temporary tattoos and stick them somewhere very noticeable, like your face, neck or hands.

For those who can’t see your victim in person yet, you can send pictures of your new tattoo. Or if you don’t have any fake tattoos but you do have photoshop skills, you can manipulate something shocking using the software and send a picture to someone you want to prank.

The more distasteful the tattoo, the better - for example, something with a spelling mistake in it.

Meddle with the clocks

With the clocks having just been set forward an hour, many of us are still adjusting to the change. This makes it the perfect time to prank your family members by messing with the clocks in the house.

Move the clocks forward an extra hour or two and watch as everyone panics that they’ve overslept or missed a meeting, or are late for work.

They won’t be able to decide if they’re relieved they aren’t late or if they’re annoyed at you for pranking them.

Trapped toiletries

For this prank, all you’ll need is some cling film and access to your victim’s toiletries.

Sneak into the bathroom unseen and unscrew the lids of the products you want to tamper with - think shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, toothpaste, that kind of thing. Once you’ve got the lids off, place some cling film over the opening of the product, and re screw the lid back in place.

When your victim goes to use said product, the clingfilm will block it from coming out and they’ll have absolutely no idea why. For maximum hilarity, do the same to any additional bottles of the same product, so that when they eventually give up and turn to a new bottle, the same thing happens again.

Smashed screen

This can be applied to a computer, TV, phone, tablet, or any electronic device with a screen that you can set a picture on.

As long as you have access to the device, simply download a picture of a cracked screen and set it as the wallpaper. Much like the clock prank, the sense of relief over not having a smashed device will likely override how annoyed they are at you for pranking them.

Mix up the keyboard

Even the most confident touch typers amongst us still rely on the keyboard to know what letters and symbols we’re selecting when using our laptops and computers.

Using just a screwdriver, you can actually pry the keys of a keyboard off and rearrange them however you please. Your victim will be extremely confused as to why they’re misspelling so many words, and won’t be able to figure out what’s going on.

Fake birthday

Many of us leave our Facebook accounts logged in on our phones and computers, which leaves it vulnerable to being messed with for April Fools.

If you have access to one such account, a great prank is to adjust the date of your victim's birthday and instead set it as 1 April. They’ll suddenly be inundated with birthday messages and have no idea why.

Toothpaste Oreos

This is a classic prank, but it’s one that can’t fail - who doesn’t like Oreos? All you need to do is buy a pack of Oreos, separate all the biscuits and remove the cream centre and replace it with toothpaste. Squish the two biscuit halves back together and the Oreos will look good as new - except now with an unexpected twist.

Simply offer your Oreos to someone and watch as they get an unpleasant surprise.