With April Fool's Day coming up, it's time to put on your jester hat and brainstorm some silly pranks. Do you want to throw a funny office prank on your unsuspecting colleagues? Check out some of our ideas for the best practical jokes you can play on the entire office.
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.
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.
There's science to back up the importance of laughter in our daily lives, especially during the workday:
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. 👇
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…
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. 🎨
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…
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.
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:
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!
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.
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.
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:
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!
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!
