April Fools Day with little kids

I'ts been a super long time since I've updated this blog but we had such a fun April Fools Day I decided I had to write it down somewhere and it might as well be here!

I was never a big fan of pranks as a kid. Truthfully I can't remember any done to me other than my big brother just teasing me the way a big brother would. But I remember reactions from other people. Reactions that made me not like mean pranks. However, since Spencer was old enough to take a joke, maybe about kindergarten, I began playing April Fools jokes on the kids in a fun, not-mean way. Now this holiday has become one of the favorites at our house.

Over the last few years I've tried all sorts of kid-friendly April Fools Day pranks. I've stuffed tissues into their shoes so they wouldn't fit. I've replaced the underwear in the drawers with baby diapers. I've switched all their drawers around so the pants are in the top drawer and the pajamas in the bottom, etc. I tried moving them from their bed to another's bed but they weren't deep enough sleepers so I just switched them so their heads were at the foot of the bed. One time I traded their comforters so Spencer woke up in a pink Fancy Nancy blanket and Tessa woke up with superheroes. I've traded their shoes and underwear with each other while they were asleep. I've sent them pudding with gummy worms in it for lunch. I've cored an apple, scooped out a bit more room in the middle to place a gummy worm and then stuck back the top and bottom of the core so they wouldn't see the worm until they ate through it. I've used dental floss to cut the banana while in the peel. I've opened bags of chips and cookies and switched the items in the bags then re-sealed the bags with a little hot glue. I've colored the milk. I've glued googley eyes onto all the food in the fridge (milk, yogurt, eggs, etc.) so when the kids opened the fridge everything was looking at them (this has been my favorite over the years and I'm waiting until an acceptable amount of time passes to reuse this one).

This year Easter was before April Fools day, hence the six containers of eggs and leftover carrot cake ;)

I've used unflavored gelatin with milk (like making panna cotta) and let it sit in their cups in the fridge overnight then their milk is pretty much solid and won't come out when they try to drink it in the morning. I've used the gelatin with gatorade to make basically jell-o that I've poured back into gatorade bottles to set up in the fridge overnight and sent in school lunch. I've switched the bags of cereal within the boxes (so when a kid pours Lucky Charms he really gets Special K, etc.) and once replaced the cereals with rice and oatmeal. I super glued a quarter on the sidewalk. I put a drop of food coloring in plastic cups and let it dry overnight then poured sprite into the cups and watched the kids' reactions to the sprite magically changing colors. I drew mustaches and whiskers on the kids with washable markers while they were sleeping. I bought Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean from Jelly Belly online. I've played the Winnie the Pooh tricks with a stuffed "pooh" on the toilet, or drawing a picture of Winnie the Pooh on toilet paper with a Sharpie marker then carefully leaving the "pooh" in the toilet. I've short-sheeted their beds and even put pillows in their beds to make it look like someone was already asleep. One time I bought cute little dog dishes and after washing them filled them with cocoa puffs and gave them to the kids for breakfast. (These dog dishes have become a favorite toy of the kids with their stuffed animal toys.) Last year our baby was just a few months old so I took a bunch of the girls' baby dolls and put them in all the baby places like the baby swing, baby gym, changing table, play pen, bouncer, etc. And of course I've sang Happy Birthday, wished a Merry Christmas, and mentioned every other holiday in between. When Spencer was in first or second grade I told him it was a Saturday and when Spencer started walking downstairs to turn on the TV I said "April Fools it's really a school day" and he cried. After that I decided not to play jokes that would result in major letdowns including packing suitcases and telling the kids we're headed to Disneyland.

And while Spencer is getting old enough to be able to handle maybe a bit more serious of pranks, he still enjoys these type and I have 3 younger kids. So it will still be a while before I elastic band saran wrap around the shower head or sink faucet, place saran wrap over the toilet bowl or put snap-its under the toilet seat. Or turn off the water then back on again so all the sinks spurt when they are turned on. Or turn off the water to the toilets so when they flush it doesn't fill back up again. Or flip off the power to the house. For now I'll stick with silly kid-friendly tricks that don't make a kid upset or require a lot of cleanup on my part. Here's how this year went...

The three older kids woke up face to face with a pretty wrapped present with a bow and a tag saying "Happy Birthday!" but under the wrapping was a plain cardboard box and the only thing inside was a note card that said "April Fools!". When Tessa found her box she didn't even want to open it. "I know it's just an empty box," she told me. Spencer said he knew it was an empty box but still opened it with a hopeful gleam in his eye... Clara was confused but excited to be getting a present. Luckily my 4 year old was able to laugh when I read her the card inside.

Then each toilet had an "Out of Order" sign taped to it. I had to pee and went in the bathroom without thinking. Tessa knocked on the door and said, "Mom, that toilet is out of order!" and I laughed. When I came out I told her it was just a joke. She said, "Good because I have to go really bad!" Spencer laughed when he went in a bathroom but went without hesitation.

Once they made it to the main floor I told them "Happy Easter! The Easter bunny came!" and pointed to the dozen plastic Easter eggs I had tossed around the front room. Inside the Easter eggs were body part gummy candies. You know a brain, bloody finger, bloody foot, and bloody ear. I saw these last Halloween and instantly thought of April Fool's day so I bought them, not sure at the time just how I'd use them. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this way because the stores only carry pastel spotted candies in the shapes of eggs right now. My kids loved this and made all sorts of silly jokes as they ate their brains, ears, feet, and fingers. Spencer saved a bloody finger stump to take to school to trick his friends that he got his finger caught in a door or zipper and it broke off. He also drew silly eyes on white paper and taped it inside his lens-less glasses frames he has. He was excited to take them to school and put them on when the teacher started teaching. And he put a piece of tape under his nostril and drew red with a marker to make it look like he had blood leaking out his nose.

When the kids were in the kitchen ready for breakfast I gave them each a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast. Except it wasn't really a grilled cheese sandwich. I made french toast and orange, maple flavored frosting (I made this the night before with butter, powdered sugar, maple flavoring, a couple drops of red food coloring, and a few more drops of yellow) and made sandwiches out of it. They looked quite realistic and none of the kids wanted to touch them. Clara almost cried. Spencer said, "Don't worry Clara it's an April Fools joke. I bet the orange is really eggs." I told him it wasn't and he closed his eyes when he took the first bite. Then his eyes popped open and he said, "Guys, you have to try this it's really good!" I told them I'd also make them eggs and when I got the eggs out of the fridge I pretended to trip and I dropped the whole carton of eggs. Of course they were the dyeable plastic ones that look quite realistic but bounced when they hit the floor.

I was excited to tell the kids to hurry and grab their backpacks for school and watch the shock as they tried to lift their bags that were full of heavy chili cans. But they were catching on and unzipped their backpacks for inspection before even lifting them up. My disappointment was obvious so Spencer zipped his back up and lifted it saying, "Wow my backpack is heavy. I wonder why it's so heavy?" I laughed and told him he could go ahead and take the cans out. He told me it was a good prank. Then as they walked down to the bus stop I put on my Ghostbusters Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man costume and waved to them as the bus passed my house.

When the kids opened their lunchboxes at school they saw a worm in their lunch. Oriental Trading sells gummy earthworms that are root beer flavored and quite realistic looking. I sent the kids with fruit snacks but I had opened the packages and placed a gummy eyeball (my Halloween bag of gummy body parts) in the fruit snacks then re-sealed the bags with a hot glue gun. And I placed a gummy bloody finger stump (Halloween gummy body parts again) in their containers of carrot sticks. Clara just told me I was silly but wasn't surprised at all. And she didn't like the gummy worm flavor, but the other two kids did.

When they came home I had an inflatable Christmas decoration blown up in the front yard and gave them candy canes. But they were too distracted by their baby brother. Clara got the biggest laugh because I picked her up from preschool with him sitting in her carseat and wearing her dress up shoes. When I texted my husband these pictures he responded "You're so mean!" and at piano lessons my dad told me he couldn't even look at him because it hurt so bad. I asked Spencer, 10 years old, what he would think if I had done this to him as a baby and showed him the pictures. He responded "I'd be so mad!" Oops. Hopefully my baby grows up not to resent me...

Then for dinner I told the kids I was making cupcakes. I made meatloaf in muffin tins and then piped whipped potatoes on them and topped them off with a cherry tomato. The kids thought they were hilarious. Tessa doesn't like mashed potatoes so she gave hers to the baby who LOVES them. I also gave them "vegetables" that were really Jolly Rancher bunny food (gummy treats in the shapes of pea pods, carrots, corn on the cob, and tomatoes). And we had real salad with it. They said this was the best day ever because they had cupcakes for dinner. Even if they were the meat and potato kind.

My last prank of the day was when they laid down for bed. I took the pillows out of their pillow cases and replaced them with the air filled plastic things that everything comes shipped with these days. I feel bad I didn't take more pictures but they absolutely LOVED April Fools Day and told me I'm good at pranks, which made me happy as well. I've already got a couple ideas for next year but if anyone else has any good kid-friendly April Fools ideas, I could always use more!