April Fools' Day Fun

April 1 is the one day we can (intentionally) make fools of ourselves by becoming tricksters, jokers, and magicians. Seize the opportunity with this smorgasbord of pranktacular ideas.

Most historians believe April Fools' Day originated during spring festivals, when people tend to feel silly and full of fun. April 1 has become a traditional day for celebrating the return of spring, and also playing tricks and jokes on friends and family. It's the one day we can make fools of ourselves by becoming tricksters, jokers, and magicians. Just remember that what goes around comes around, so don't do anything mean or hurtful. Here are some great ways to celebrate the April Fools' Day from party expert Penny Warner, author of "The Best Party Book" and "Pick A Party" (Meadowbrook Press).

• Give your family an April Fools' Surprise Party, with tricky treats, crazy games, and fun activities.
• Do everything backwards for the day, such as serve dinner in reverse, with dessert first, then the main course, then salad, then the appetizer.
• Mix up the condiments on the table - salt in the sugar bowl, milk in the juice container, crackers in the cookie jar, and catsup in the mustard jar.
• Make a silly school lunch, with an inside-out sandwich (a slice of bread between two slices of meat or cheese), an apple with a gummy worm hanging out, green tinted milk, and a lunch box full of rubber snakes and spiders.
• Turn the faucet upside down so it sprays the next person with water.
• Paint the leaves of a plant red, the mushrooms in the lawn blue, or the snails in the yard rainbow.
• Sew your family's underwear together.
• Change the clocks, wake up the family for breakfast, then tell them the real time: 5:00 a.m.
• Tape crepe paper across the doors while the kids are asleep so when they open their doors in the morning, they're "trapped" inside.
• Wear your clothes inside out and backwards.
• Bake a meatloaf in a cake pan, frost with tinted mashed potatoes, and top with candles for a Dinner Cake.
• Remove the bedroom door.
• Put a family member's number in the personals and ask readers to call her and wish her a Happy April Fools' Day.
• Glue a bunch of coins to the walk.
• Staple the family's pant legs together in the morning before they get dressed.
• Give yourself a full-body (temporary) tattoo, add some stick-on body rings, spray your hair with temporary blue color, and surprise everyone with your new look.
• Peel the labels off all the canned food in the pantry.
• Rearrange the bedroom - or even the whole house.
• Cut hair off an old doll and leave it on dad's pillow in the morning so he thinks he's losing his hair.

If you wanted to go the extra mile, make a special April Fools' "Litter Box Cake" for your April Fools' Party:

• Bake a spice cake and a yellow cake according package directions.
• Prepare two packages vanilla instant pudding mix and chill.
• Crumble one package vanilla sandwich cookies.
• Tint 1/4 cup cookie crumbs with green food coloring.
• Crumble cool cakes in a large bowl.
• Stir in half of remaining white cookie crumbs.
• Gently stir in just enough of the chilled pudding to moisten it.
• Line a new clean medium-sized kitty litter box with waxed paper and fill with cake mixture.
• Heat four unwrapped Tootsie Rolls in microwave until soft.
• Taper the ends and bury Tootsie Rolls in the mixture. Sprinkle on remaining cookie crumbs.
• Scatter the green cookie crumbs lightly on top.
• Heat four more Tootsie Rolls until almost melted, then scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle lightly with cookie crumbs.
• Heat four more Tootsie Rolls until soft, taper then ends, and place them on top of the cake. Hang one over the edge.
• Place litter the box on newspaper on the table, and sprinkle with a few cookies crumbs on the paper. Serve with pooper scooper (preferably new).

Whether you go to great prankster lengths this year or would rather avoid the whole affaire remember this: beware those offering gum on April Fools’ Day.

Author: FeatureSource Staff