Have a roommate that ate all of your Cheez-It’s while you were asleep? Did your friend lock you out of your phone for two hours, making you miss the most important Snapchat invitation of your life? Feel the need to get back at your significant other because of that one annoying thing they did a week ago? Here are nine easy April Fools’ Day pranks to pull on everyone you know.
1. Plastic wrap everything
There’s a reason why this prank is a classic. It’s simple, but oh-so effective. Chances are the person you pull this prank on won’t even notice anything at first, but once they do, they’ll probably think they might as well just buy new things rather than take the time to remove an entire store’s supply of clear plastic cling wrap from everything they own.
All you have to do is buy some plastic wrap and wrap everything you can. Their pillows, their laptop, their cat. Everything is fair game.
(Please don’t actually plastic wrap their cat.)
2. Put their number on Craigslist
Perhaps the only good thing you can use Craigslist for is to prank your friends. Create a weird advertisement — a hot hookup, a job opening for a competitive babysitter, a competition for who has the best Batman impression — and include your friend’s phone number at the end. They will get calls all day and have no idea why.
3. Switch sides of the room
Regret not moving in the first day because your roommate got the better side? Well, here’s your chance to snag it.
Get some friends — or your own macho self — and swap sides. At the very least, you could switch your beds around and give your roommate a real treat when they walk into the room and see you living in a place you probably shouldn’t be.
4. Change the settings on your friend’s phone or laptop
Take advantage of the fact that you know your friends’ passwords by changing their settings for their phone or laptop. Change the language, the icons, download some sketchy images and browsers and enjoy the fact that they regret not taking Spanish 201, seriously.
5. Fake a break up
Only for those that are brave enough and trust their one-year anniversary actually means something. Send a text message to your significant other with something along the lines of “We need to talk about us … ” and don’t reply. Watch the terror ensue. Hopefully they will forgive you once they realize it is a joke. Hopefully.
6. Pretend to be a stalker
Similar to the Craigslist prank, give your friend’s number and email out, but this time to people you know. Tell them some random facts and give them pictures of the friend you want to prank, then send the victim the information from unknown numbers in the creepiest way possible.
7. Place a “voice activated” sign on electronics around campus
Feel like technology is outdated? Test your skills in Photoshop and Microsoft Word by creating signs that say “voice activated” on various technologies around campus, such as the CatPrints stations or the microwaves in the dorms. Sit back and watch as people try to communicate with inanimate objects.
8. Switch similar looking foods around
Tired of seeing your roommate eat all of the food you just bought three days ago? You can get back at them by replacing that item with another similar-looking food item that they would not expect. Switch yogurt with mayonnaise, or orange juice with macaroni and cheese sauce mix. That will teach them.
9. Place notes around their room
Does your friend invite you over to their place to hang out, only to abandon you in their room while they chat up the neighbors or take a 30-minute bathroom break? Take advantage of the trust they have in you that you won’t disturb their room and do exactly that.
Grab a pack of sticky notes and get writing. Write a fun story about them, a pretend love note or put words that they say too much on these sticky notes and hide them everywhere. If you hide them well enough, this prank can last more than just a day.
Follow Monica Kothe on Twitter.