Quick and Easy Tricks
Tape over their mouse's sensor. This simple computer prank can leave your friend struggling with an unresponsive mouse for minutes before figuring out what's going on. When your friend is using a computer, wait until s/he leaves for a moment, then quickly slip a piece of tape on the bottom of the mouse so that it blocks the sensor (usually, on modern mouses, this is the part shining a red light). Rearrange the mouse and wait for your friend to return. Take a seat with a good view and watch your results! Many older mouses use a rubber trackball, rather than a light-based sensor. In this case, you may want to steal the ball to have the same effect as taping the sensor. However, since removing the ball can make these types of mouse feel noticeably lighter, an even better bet is to quickly remove the ball, tape over the small rollers inside the ball compartment, and replace the ball before your friend gets back.
Coat their soap or deodorant with clear nail polish. If your victim is a clean freak, this prank will drive her mad! When you go to your friend's house, bring a bottle of clear nail polish (which should be available for quite cheap at your local grocery or department store). Excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, then, when you're there, snoop around for a bar of your friend's soap or a stick of her deodorant. Carefully paint the surface of the soap or deodorant until it has a thorough (but invisible) layer of nail polish. The next time your friend tries to wash her hands with the soap or apply her deodorant, she won't be able to figure out why it isn't working! Obviously, this trick only works for bar soap and stick deodorant. Liquid soap and spray-on or roll-on deodorant can't be sabotaged this way.
Use a "Febreze grenade". A little air freshener can be a good thing, but too much can make a room smell like a chemical spill. For this quick but highly effective prank, all you'll need is an aerosol can of air freshener with a trigger-style spray mechanism and a strong plastic zip tie. When your friend is in a confined area, like his bedroom, sneak up on him and subtly slip the loop of the zip tie around the air freshener's trigger, but don't tighten it yet. Get ready to run, then strike quickly and without warning — pull the zip tie tight around the trigger, throw the grenade into the room, shut the door, and run!
Plant a whoopie cushion under a friend's seat. Another old classic, this trick relies on the fact that flatulence is almost never not funny, especially when it's unexpected. This trick is tantalizingly easy — simply wait until your friend leaves her seat, then sneak a fully inflated whoopie cushion onto it, and let your friend do the rest of the work for you! To make the whoopie cushion harder to see, try slipping it under the seat's cushion. Just be sure to give the air a path to excuse or you may get a loud bang rather than the intended "noise".
Hide an air horn behind a door. This prank is the louder, more shocking cousin to the classic whoopie cushion prank. To perform this prank, you'll need a loud, aerosol can-style air horn (usually available at hardware or department stores for $10-20 and under) and some strong duct tape. Remove any protective caps from the air horn's button, then tape the base of the horn to the wall behind a door so that the doorknob will knock into the air horn button when opened. Next, just wait for your victim to open the door and get a shock they won't forget! Obviously, you'll want to pick a door that this person is likely to walk through. You'll also want to tell other people who may walk through the door about your prank ahead of time. If someone else triggers the air horn, it may ruin the prank for your friend.
Freak them out with spooky late-night noises. This one's great for sleepovers. Wait until it's dark out, it's fairly quiet, and people are getting ready for bed. Excuse yourself from your group of friends by pretending you have to run home to get something you've forgotten. Then, when you're gone, silently sneak into a spot where your friends will be able to hear you, but can't see you. Start to make creepy noises ever-so-quietly. For instance, you might scratch at the wall and make whispered breathing sounds. Start out very quiet, but gradually get louder and more frequent until your friends are shaking in their beds! Top your trick off by suddenly stopping and sneaking away from your hiding spot. Walk back into the room a few minutes later as if nothing has happened.
Replace their desktop with a convincing screenshot. This computer prank is even more effective than the mouse prank above, but it needs a little more time. When your friend is away from his computer, take a screenshot of the desktop with no programs or windows open. If you're on a Windows PC, you should then open a simple image-editing program, like Paint, paste the image into the program, and crop out the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. Save the image and set it as the desktop background. Finally, remove all of the icons currently on the desktop. When your friend returns, his desktop should look exactly how he left it, but he won't be able to click on any of the icons! Depending on the person, this one can take hours to figure out! On a Windows PC, the default keyboard shortcut for taking a screenshot is the "Print Screen" button (often shortened to "prt sc" or something similar). On a Mac, the shortcut is Command-Shift-3.
Middle-of-the-road Pranks
Creatively replace an ingredient in their favorite food. One of the worst things to experience (and funniest things to watch) is biting into your favorite food, only to discover that something is very, very wrong. If your friend absolutely loves a certain snack or dish, try replacing one of the ingredients in this food with an ingredient that looks the same, but tastes very different. Be warned — your friend will not be happy with you after this prank! Below are just a few ideas to get you started: Replace the cream in Oreos with mayonnaise or toothpaste. Replace cake frosting with plain cream cheese. Replace the sugar on snickerdoodles with salt. Replace the apples in caramel apples with onions or radishes. Replace cola with clear soda and soy sauce.
"Get lost" and surprise them when in the wilderness. This may be (quite literally) the oldest trick in the book. It's probably a safe bet that people were pulling this prank on each other before the rise of civilization itself. However, if done well, it's still just as simple, easy, and effective today as it was back then. When you and some friends are walking outside (preferably in a forest, but anywhere with places to hide will do), let the group walk ahead of you. Slowly and quietly fall back and hide behind a tree or rock. They'll soon notice you're missing and, with luck, will start to look for you. When they get near, pop out and shout to startle them. That's all there is to it! For added effect, try imitating animal noises while you're hiding to freak your friends out. If you're sneaky enough, you may even be able to sneak out of your hiding place and into another without them noticing.
"Paper" a friend's room or car. This classic trick can take a lot of time, but the effects are almost always unforgettable. When your friend is away, take wrapping paper or sticky notes and completely cover her room or car (or both)! The more you can cover, the better. Ideally, her room or car should be completely unrecognizable by the time you're done. Don't use strong glues or tapes, as these can damage your friend's property. Instead, stick to the weak glue on the back of sticky notes or delicate masking tape. If you're using sticky notes, you may want to consider spelling out a snarky message by arranging the notes in the shape of letters. For instance, if your victim is going to discover this prank after being away for a long period of time, you might want to spell out "Welcome home!" Be sure to get permission from your friend's parents, roommates, or coworkers before sneaking into her room or tampering with her car. To someone who doesn't know what's going on, it can look like you're trying to break in or vandalize her property. Getting arrested can really derail your prank, so always play things safe.
Rearrange the keys on their keyboard. This computer prank requires a little more work than simply taping over your friend's mouse sensor, but the reaction when she figures out what's going on is absolutely priceless! First, get a hold of your friend's laptop or computer keyboard. Then, to be safe, ensure the laptop or keyboard is off and is not connected to any power source. Use a flat, skinny object like a screwdriver or a butter knife to gently pry the keys up and pop them out of their spaces. Finally, press each key back into its new spot until it "clicks" into place. While you may want to simply re-arrange the keys randomly, you can also spell out a taunting message (e.g., "Dorkus", "Umadbro?", "Watsup", etc.) with the new arrangement of the keys. If you do this, don't forget that you can only use each letter once! Keep in mind that not all keyboards have removable keys. If you're unsure whether removing your friend's keyboard keys will damage his keyboard, try looking up cleaning instructions for the model of keyboard online. Avoid removing the space bar, as, in some setups, this key can be very difficult to replace.
Trick them into holding a bowl of water on the ceiling. This prank is absolutely devilish if it's pulled off well, but it can result in a big watery mess, so you'll want to do it somewhere where the floor can't be damaged by water, like in a kitchen with linoleum floors. Fill a plastic (not glass or ceramic) bowl with water almost to its rim, then set up a small ladder or stepping stool and grab a broom. Call your friend over. Tell him that you want to show him a magic trick — you'll make the water disappear from the bowl without touching it, but you need his help. Climb your stepping stool with the bowl of water and press it against the ceiling of the room. Then, ever so carefully, have your friend use the end of the broom handle to hold the bowl in place against the ceiling. When he is supporting the bowl, move the stepping stool away from him while explaining that you need room to perform your trick. Then, run away laughing! Your friend will be stuck in a tricky situation — he can't get the bowl of water down because it won't balance on the tip of the broom stick and he can't reach it with his hands, so eventually he'll have to let it come crashing down, soaking himself. This is why it's important to use a sturdy, non-breakable plastic bowl.
Put their things in jello. This prank, popularized by the TV show The Office, is a big hit simply for its ridiculousness. To start, you'll need to steal some small but important possession of your friend's. Don't pick something which can be damaged by moisture, like a phone or tablet. Pens and, of course, small metal tools like staplers work well. Next, you'll want to make half a bowl of jello. Allow it to set, then and add your friend's possession on top of the solid jello. Add more liquid jello above and wait for this to set. When your jello is nice and firm, the stolen object should be suspended in the middle of the mold. Leave it in the place your friend normally keeps the object and wait for him to stumble across it. Keep in mind that gelatin will slowly melt if exposed to heat, so don't leave the jello'd item in a spot that's warm or near sensitive materials that can be damaged by moisture.
Bake them a balloon cake.This prank is great if your friend's birthday is coming up. First, inflate an ordinary balloon with air (don't use helium). Then, set your balloon on a cake platter and cover it with frosting. Add thin strips of actual birthday cake around the balloon to make your cake look more realistic. Spread frosting over the gaps between the cake and the balloon until, from the outside, your creation looks like a normal birthday cake (or as close as you can get it). Decorate the cake as you normally would. When the time comes, present it to your friend and ask him to cut it. When the knife hits the balloon, he'll get a surprise present he wasn't expecting!
Challenging Practical Jokes
Flood a room with balloons. This prank is a favorite of graduating seniors, but there's no reason you can't use it on one of your friends outside of school. When your friend is away, get permission from her parents or roommates to sneak into her room. Inflate as many balloons as you can and pack them into her room. You really want to fill her room here — the fuller, the better. Ideally, when she returns, she'll open her door, only for a floor-to-ceiling wave of balloons to come crashing down on her! This prank can take quite some time to set up, but one of the best things about it is that it's pretty quick (and entertaining) to clean up. All you need is something sharp, like a pointed stick or a pair of scissors, and you can start cutting through the sea of balloons like butter!
Arrange for a mock disciplinary hearing. If you're not squeamish about making your friend sweat, this is the trick for you. However, this prank requires your friend's boss, teacher, or principal to be willing to do a little acting. Talk this person about setting up a fake disciplinary hearing for your friend. Your friend's boss or teacher should call your friend away from his class or work and act as though he's in serious trouble. The boss or teacher should present fake evidence that your friend has done something against the rules (like cheating or stealing) and should recommend some sort of serious punishment (like detention or a pay cut). At the last second, reveal the joke and watch the look on your friend's face! For example, if your friend is in school, you might arrange for his principal to pull him out of class one day and bring him to the office. Here, he might present a note (which you've written and signed with your friend's name) about how he thinks the principal looks like a fat, disgusting pig. Let the principal make your friend squirm for a while, then burst through the door laughing. Be careful with this prank — it's not for the faint of heart. If you pull this prank on the wrong person, it can easily lead to tears and seriously hurt feelings, so only use it on people that you know will be able to take the joke.
Disguise yourself as a piece of furniture. No one ever expects their furniture to come to life while they're using it, so this prank is great for catching even the most paranoid friends by surprise. However, it requires a lot of work and some knowledge of sewing and carpentry. The basic idea is that you'll want to modify a chair so that you can sit inside it — that is, your feet should touch the floor, your arms should be in the armrests, and your upper body should be in the upholstery in the back of the chair. When your friend sits down in the chair, wait a few minutes, then start moving. You will get an amazing reaction of confusion mixed with pure terror every time!
Make your friend think everyone has forgotten his birthday. It's everyone's secret worst nightmare — the people they care about the most have all forgotten their special day. This prank requires a lot of work on your part. You'll need to contact your friend's parents, her friends, close acquaintances, coworkers, teachers, and so on to ensure than none acknowledge her birthday. Luckily, if you can manage to get everyone to agree to it, it's not terribly hard to pull off — all everyone has to do is simply say nothing out of the ordinary. Don't let your friend become depressed! For the best results, follow this prank up with a surprise party to let your friend know that you do care.
Put all of their furniture on the ceiling. This prank is a serious undertaking, but the results can (quite literally) turn your friend's world upside down. Using nails, screws, glue, and any other tools necessary, attach all of your friend's furniture to the ceiling in exactly the same arrangement as it is in normally. For extra attention to detail, try taping or gluing his personal possessions in place exactly as they normally are, only upside down. Obviously, you'll want the permission of your friend's parents, roommates, and/or landlord before performing this trick. You'll also need plenty of time to work, so this trick is often best if the friend is out of town for some time.
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