What is April Fool's Day?
April Fools Day, observed on the first of the month, is an annual day where people are encouraged to pull practical jokes and hoaxes on people. Typically, the exclamation "April Fools!" is the button of the joke. In recent years, business marketing and mass media have joined in on the joke, pulling pranks that aren't revealed to be an April Fools Day joke until the following day.
Why pull an April Fool's joke at work?
On April 1st of every year, people get a free pass to prank their friends with silly jokes and games. Why not have a little fun with some funny pranks for coworkers too? Executing the perfect prank (that's HR-friendly, of course) is a great way to break the ice with your team and get everyone laughing together. Remember, the best office pranks only have team building value if they're not insulting or offensive.
Pranks can also be one of the best ways to build a positive culture and employer brand. When coming to work is fun, it lightens the mood around the office, which can raise morale and help employees beat feelings of burnout. Because word gets around quickly, it's likely you'll also have an easier time attracting top-notch talent who see the value in an enjoyable work environment.
Why should you encourage laughter in the workplace? 🤣
There's science to back up the importance of laughter in our daily lives, especially during the workday:
- Laughter triggers the activation of dopamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters that are both considered mood-boosting hormones.
- Laughter also reduces levels of adrenaline and cortisol, which are known as stress and anxiety hormones in the body. (Laughter Yoga exists for a reason!)
- There's a link between laughter and productivity. A study shows that after participants watched a comedic clip that induced laughter, employees were 10% more productive than those who hadn't.
See? Turns out the laughs we get from April Fool's pranks help us feel more relaxed and productive at work.
Ready to get scheming? Check out some of these virtual April Fool's pranks to pull on your remote employees this April Fool's Day. 👇
11 funny office pranks to keep your coworkers on their toes:
1. Create a fake company announcement
Remember when Burger King announced a new Whopper Toothpaste back on April Fools Day in 2017? 🦷 Their fake marketing for the toothpaste with an "iconic Whopper flavor and active ingredients for optimal teeth and gum hygiene" got everyone on the internet talking. They aren't the only brand that's come up with some clever April Fools pranks that went viral.
What fake announcements could your business announce to your employees or customers? Perhaps it's a…
- New slogan
- Obscure logo
- Wacky new product that's completely out of the box
This prank requires some major execution and creativity, so get in touch with your marketing team early and see what devious ideas they can come up with. 🎨
2. The accidental screen-share
We're all pros at the virtual meetings by now, when we aren't accidentally muting ourselves that is. However, deep down we all still have that fear that we're going to accidentally screen-share something embarrassing next time we're giving a presentation.
For a funny April Fool's Day prank, leave open a prank tab or window on your computer when you go to share your screen, like…
- A Google search of Richard Simmon's workout videos
- A funny photoshopped picture of your coworker or boss
- A video of your recent audition tape for Survivor
- You in your living room practicing your favorite karaoke routine
Or, hey, maybe it's even the simple yet effective Rick Roll!
There's a fine line between a good and bad office prank, so make sure whatever you decide is work-appropriate for your team's dynamic.
3. Announce a new fake colleague
Start the day in your company Slack channel by introducing an imaginary new hire to the team. Here are a few tips on how to do it:
- Come up with a fake job description outside of your existing departments so that everyone's confused by this new role. 🤔
- Be sure to give them a fake profile picture and a big introduction with their background, skills, and hobbies. 🎊
- After you announce the new addition to the team, watch the kind introductory messages on Slack pour in all day! 💌
If you want to go all the way, plan a team building event for the end of the day where everyone can meet the new person, and when the time comes, choose a stand-in pet, family member, or maybe a silly Zoom background of a celebrity to log onto the call. Be ready to get a screenshot of everyone's face once they catch on to the joke!
4. Trade Slack names & profile pictures
This one's super simple. Change your Slack profile photo and display name to take on a new identity for the day. 🕵️ Maybe you'd like to log on as a fictional character from the show you can't stop talking about in your tv-movie-chatter channel, a famous celebrity, or one of your favorite colleagues!
Need help deciding on just one person to disguise yourself as? Pick some funny photos that you can rotate as profile pictures throughout the day so you can really keep your coworkers on their toes.
5. Change your Zoom background
With creative Zoom backgrounds, the possibilities are endless for this one. Log onto your first meeting on April Fools with a background that makes everyone think you're luxuriating in a tropical paradise and see who calls your bluff. Take a photo of you with the goofiest, mid-freeze face possible so everyone thinks your Wi-Fi is having a bad day.
Want to showcase your prowess with a photo editor like Picsart? Make it appear as though one of your remote colleagues is in the background and challenge yourself to fool others into believing they missed the invite to your monthly coworking session!
How to get started 👉 Check out our blog How to Spice Up Your Virtual Zoom Background for more ideas to try in your next video call.
6. Bring back the mannequin challenge
Does anyone still remember the mannequin challenge craze that took over social media in 2016? You can bring it back this April Fool's Day!
Fortunately, you don't need any camera or editing tricks for this one. Just get together with your team and decide which colleague you're going to prank. When that person is speaking during the meeting, create a "freeze frame" effect by having everyone else stay still. You'll have your colleague wondering whether their Wi-Fi has "gone kaput."
Your team's biggest challenge here will be not laughing when the person speaking begins to panic. Don't let the repeated, "Can you guys hear me?" make you ruin the prank. 😅 Some videoconferencing platforms may even have a "stop video" or freeze frame feature that allows you to do this without having to stay still the whole time.
Alternatively, you can use the background change trick and simply move out of camera view. If you go this route, just make sure you don't accidentally laugh into the microphone!
How to get started 👉 Plan the prank with the rest of your colleagues, and make sure to practice it a few times to get all your laughs out before you actually go for it in your next meeting.
7. Deliver a hilarious postal prank
This bridges the gap between the virtual and real worlds. If you have addresses for your virtual team, let them know you'll be sending them all a package in the mail, but don't give any hints as to what it might be. Then, ask them to wait until you're all together to open them so you can see their real-time reactions to their "gifts."
Don't have any idea of what to send them? Try the Inception Box. Just send a large box with progressively smaller boxes nesting inside each other, and watch the confusion mount as your team keeps opening the boxes to find the treasure inside
How to get started 👉 Buy the shipping supplies, gather your team's addresses, label the boxes, and then drop it all off at your local post office. Don't forget to remind your team to wait to open their surprise!
8. Create a fake sales lead
This prank lets you take advantage of your team's drive to succeed by creating a fake sales lead for your colleague to follow up on. However, when they call the phone number you've given them, the call will actually go to your local zoo.
You can make it even funnier if you give your "lead" an animal-related name. How hilarious would it be to imagine your colleague picking up the phone to ask to speak to "Mrs. C. Lyon?" This prank can also work well with someone who might need to call a new vendor or get back with a customer about a problem they're having.
How to get started 👉 Google the number to the zoo, pick your favorite animal, send that email, and watch the hilarity unfold.
9. Go for the most cliche prank in the world
Depending on your coworkers' ages, some of them may have already fallen victim to the oldest prank in the book -- Rickrolling! However, you shouldn't let that stop you from doing it again (and again, and again, and again). No one expects to get Rickrolled precisely because the joke is so cliche. However, that's what makes it so funny!
The next time you're sending out a link to a web page or document, simply replace it with a link to Rick Astley's 1980s hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up.” You can make the whole thing even more laugh-inducing by dropping the link in the chat during your next meeting so you can hear the music play as everyone clicks the link simultaneously.
Those who have never been Rickrolled will be hilariously confused, and those who have may still give you a reluctant chuckle.
How to get started 👉 Grab a YouTube link to Rick Astley's popular song, and use a link shortener like TinyURL to hide your true intentions! 😏
10. Test your team with a talking head
How many of your teammates really pay attention in virtual meetings? You can use April Fool's Day as a way to test their level of distraction. Instead of sitting in front of your camera, replace your would-be talking head with a toy. This can be something like a doll or a stuffed animal.
While out of view, simply talk into the microphone like you normally would. See how long it takes your team to notice that an inanimate object is delivering the daily rundown.
How to get started 👉 All you need for this one is a children's toy, preferably a puppet or doll. Just place it in front of the camera, and wait for the fun to begin!
11. In-office pranks
For the companies that have returned to a hybrid-working model, here are a couple of classic pranks that you can pull off in your coworker's office:
- When you see your coworker get up to grab more office supplies, put a piece of paper that says "April Fools!" over the sensor of their mouse. Make sure you hurry back to a good vantage point where you can watch their confusion in real time. 👀
- Get some black paper and cut out a silhouette of a small bug. Then, tape it to the inside of your colleague's desk lampshade. Wait for your coworker to flick on their desk light and listen for the jump-scare! 🐛
- Get your team together and wrap your boss's desk in wrapping paper. (If you know they'll be a good sport! Of course, stick around to help clean up the mess.)
If cunning games are more your team’s style...
Blending trivia with friendly deception and social deduction, Traitorous Trivia is the perfect team building activity for April Fool's Day!
Two traitors will be selected at random and given the correct trivia answers from the get-go. Their mission is to cleverly manipulate their colleagues into choosing the wrong answers without raising suspicion. With 8 multiple-choice questions spanning various topics from pop culture to history and sports, this game keeps everyone engaged and on their toes. Teams have a brief window of 2 minutes to put their heads together, deliberate, and lock in their answers.
But here's the catch: while teammates strive for correctness, traitors earn points for every incorrect answer they manage to persuade others to select. As the game progresses, laughter and tension will ensue until the traitors' identities are finally revealed.
How to get started 👉 Book a round of Traitorous Trivia to find out how well your team can dodge deception!
Keep the laughter going with Confetti 🥳
Humor, when handled appropriately, is an extremely valuable part of the employee experience and company culture of your business. Don't be afraid to lean into the goofy office pranks this year.
Are office pranks not really your team's style? No problem! Instead, spark some April Fool's Day laughter with funny team building activities that will get the whole team engaging together.
Need some amusing ideas? Check out our Hilarious Team Building Activities and book your event in just a few clicks!
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