With Aprils Fools Day 2015 right around the corner, we’ve compiled a list of office pranks to keep your coworkers laughing. Well, most of coworkers at least! Some pranks target at a single individual, while others will affect the whole office. We’ve listed them in no particular order, but we did add an Effort Level ranking as well as a Prank Master ranking. Hopefully you’ll get some ideas to try in your office! Just remember to prank with caution. Some folks aren’t the most easy-g0ing, and NEVER prank your boss unless there are a whole bunch of employees in on it. Then at least you’ll be safe in the crowd!
1. Sorry, No Calls Today
Find LOTS of rubber bands that are particularly stretchy. Then go to town completely wrapping your coworkers phone to the point of making it unusable. Now sit back and laugh. Added bonus: it’s likely that at some point during the unwrapping process, your coworker will snap themselves with one or many of the rubber bands.
Effort Level: Light Preparation Required
Prank Master Level: Clever Rascal
2. You Asked for a Cup of Water…
Whether or not your coworker asked for a cup of water at some point, you should definitely bring them one… or one hundred. Partially fill as many cups of water as will fit in their workstation, cubicle, or desk. Then watch as they precariously try to remove all the cups before ruining their technology. Liven up this prank by adding food color to the water to make it more noticeable and bright. And if they spill it, it may stain the carpet.
Effort Level: Somewhat Time-Consuming
Prank Master Level: Pranking Ninja
3. I Got You a Plant for Your Office
This prank will take some preparation and it may not pay off exactly on April Fools day. But it will be worth it! You’ll need at least a week or two to get the grass growing, so get an old keyboard that looks like your coworkers’ and spray it with water. This will ruin the keyboard, just fyi. Sprinkle in cat-grass seeds between the keys, then cover in plastic wrap to ensure things get moist in there. Leave the keyboard near a window for a week or two at home until the grass begins to grow. Then cut off the plastic wrap and bring it into work and switch it out with your coworkers keyboard. If you want to be a real jerk, don’t give them their keyboard back.
Effort Level: Intensive Planning
Prank Master Level: Pranking Ninja
4. I Think My Mouse is Broken
This is a tried and true trick good for every day of the year. But if you’re new to pranking, it’s a great one to start with. Fun, simple, and mostly harmless, you just have to grab a piece of scotch tape and cover the laser on the bottom of your coworker’s mouse. You can add a message if you’d like, but your handwriting or wit may give you away!
Effort Level: Super Easy
Prank Master Level: Little Scamp
5. Who Sat in My Chair – AAHHH!
WARNING: Do not attempt to pull this prank on those with heart conditions. Airhorns are crazy loud and scary when you’re not expecting to hear them. Otherwise, this is a simple prank to pull on anyone in the office. Just tape an air horn to the shaft of your coworker’s task chair, where the top of the airhorn meets up with the bottom of their seat. Then raise up the chair enough that it is noticeably taller than their usual height adjustment. When they sit down and lower themselves, they will get a fun surprise! It may also help to disguise the airhorn if you color or cover the red horn that usually comes on these things.
Effort Level: Super Easy
Prank Master Level: Mischievous Rogue
6. Flashback: 1963
Give your older coworkers a glimpse into the past with just a few simple props. Remove all technology from their cubicle, and replace with items that they would’ve used in 1963. A typewriter instead of a computer, a rotary phone, and a throwback glass bottle of coke instead of the plastic bottles we use today. Spruce up their workstation with some old advertisements and pinup calendars, and you’re good to go! Bonus if you can replace their task chair with a dated one from the ’60′s or ’70′s.
Effort Level: Intensive Planning
Prank Master Level: Clever Rascal
7. Febreeze Grenade
This prank is ingeniously simple, but horrible. All you’ll need is a full can of febreeze air freshener in your favorite scent (because you’ll be smelling it all day too) and a zip tie. Refer to the image above for your tutorial. Simply affix the zip tie around the nozzle and pull when ready to run. This will make the entire office smell for days, we’re forewarning you now. We would not recommend throwing the febreeze grenade anywhere near your own desk, or even on the same floor of the building. You’ll also need to hide your culpability – this trick is easy to figure out and recreate if you know where to aim the grenade.
Effort Level: Super Easy
Prank Master Level: Mischievous Rogue
8. The Classic “Office” Prank
Yep. You guessed it. Suspend your coworker’s stapler in jello. This is a classic prank that takes some time to get right, since you’ll need to buy a bunch of jello and a fun mold that is big enough to hold a stapler. Then you have to worry about getting the stapler to suspend in the jello rather than sink to the bottom of the mold. We recommend letting half the jello recipe mostly set before adding the stapler and the remaining jello recipe. Then you simply bring in a plate big enough to hold your jello-stapler creation and place it on your coworker’s desk. This prank will get everyone laughing – except the owner of the stapler.
Effort Level: Somewhat Time-Consuming
Prank Master Level: Mischievous Rogue
9. Not Your Average Cup o’ Joe
This prank will affect your whole office, or at least those that put creamer in their morning cup of coffee. Buy some Alka-Seltzer tablets and crush them up into a fine powder to simulate a non-dairy coffee creamer. Replace the non-dairy creamer in your office with your crushed Alka-Seltzers. Then stand back and watch as your coworker’s morning coffees explode and overflow.
Effort Level: Somewhat Time-Consuming
Prank Master Level: Diabolical Genius
10. A Good Old Fashioned TP-ing
A bit of an obvious prank, but versatile. Use this prank to target one individual, or your entire office. Just remember to buy the cheap stuff so it breaks apart easily and is harder to clean up. Plus you won’t break the bank buying cheap toilet paper! If you’re feeling really diabolical. choose one of the other pranks to do first, then TP over their workstation. Then they’ll uncover the TP and think the prank is over, but they’ll notice their desk is from 1963, or their phone is bound in rubber bands.
Effort Level: Super Easy
Prank Master Level: Little Scamp
11. Printer Upgrade
Fool your whole office into thinking the printer has been upgraded to include voice commands. Attach a sheet of paper with the printer’s logo (HP, XEROX, etc.) and the following: “This printer/copier has been upgraded. Linguistic Module 4.01 has been installed. Voice Commands have been enabled. 1. State your name (for diagnostic purposes only) 2. State the desired function keyword (COPY, FAX, COLLATE, etc.) 3. State the number needed, then say START.” Then add the footnote, “Please Note: The module is in learning mode and the user may need t repeat the command until the voice is recognized.” Then watch from a distance as your coworkers continually yell at your printer.
Effort Level: Light Preparation
Prank Master Level: Mischievous Rogue
12. Do You Have a Post-It?
A colorful choice of pranks, this one is actually more like a present if your coworker loves Post-Its. Buy some sticky notes, either one color or many, and proceed to cover their entire office in Post-it notes. You can leave messages on them if you like, or spell a message with different colored notes. Be creative! You can also buy Post-its of varying sizes to create fun patterns and cover smaller items.
Effort Level: Somewhat Time-Consuming
Prank Master Level: Clever Rascal
13. The 3 Little Pigs
Most people have heard of this prank, but few have ever seen it done. That’s because it takes an expert level of planning to pull this off without getting caught. Get 3 pigs and label them 1, 2, and 4. Then let them loose in your office or office building. Watch as everyone responds with incredulousness that there is even one pig in the office, let alone four! Watch as the office chases and catches the pigs, and then wonders where the third pig is. You can substitute chickens, hamsters, roosters, or any number of animals for pigs. Also, greasing the pigs beforehand is optional. Please don’t grease your chickens, hamsters or roosters.
Effort Level: How Did You Pull This Off?
Prank Master Level: Diabolical Genius
14. Your New Office Has Been Delivered
Everyone hates packing peanuts. They stick to everything, they break into a million pieces easily, and there are a ton of them even in one small box. So inflect some of this raw hatred onto your coworkers this April Fools day. Completely fill their office, cubicle, desk drawers, etc. with packing peanuts. Your coworker will hate having to remove all the those peanuts and will almost certainly not get them all. You should expect that after 2 weeks, they’ll still find packing peanuts stuck to themselves. Bonus if their office walls have windows like in the image above. I would hate to have to open that door!
Effort Level: Light Preparation
Prank Master Level: Mischievous Rogue
15. Heavy Workload
Overfill your coworkers inbox. Grab every paper, binder, project folder, and stack of bills in your office and pile them on their desk. Make sure their desk or workstation can withstand the weight – you don’t want to collapse their entire desk and do any real damage! Raid your library or archives if needed to find a sufficiently scary-looking pile of work. To be extra devious, grab papers from all over the office, and let your coworker sift through the piles to figure out where everything goes.
Effort Level: Light Preparation
Prank Master Level: Clever Rascal
16. Flying Workstation
This takes sit to stand workstations to a whole new level. Flying workstations! Get some heavy duty nylon straps and a ladder. Securely fasten the straps to your office’s ceiling or support beams. Then use the straps to suspend your coworkers entire desk and chair from the ceiling. You’ll probably want to enlist some help with this prank – it would be extremely difficult to pull off on your own. Just make sure you can trust your partner not to snitch on you!
Effort Level: How Do You Pull This Off?
Prank Master Level: Diabolical Genius
