April Fools pranks for work: 45 harmless ideas for the office

The rules for April Fools pranks at work

One question covers most of it: will they laugh when they find out? These seven rules cover the rest.

• Never touch someone's work: files, code, documents, deadlines or their computer.
• Never involve health: no allergens, no food swaps, no scares, nothing physical.
• Never touch money: pay, expenses, invoices or purchase orders.
• Never touch belongings of value: phones, laptops, cars, wallets.
• Never joke about job security: firings, layoffs, promotions, office closures.
• No pranks on new hires. They don't know you well enough yet.
• Reveal it the same day, and clean up yourself.

15 April Fools pranks for the office

Classic April Fools pranks in the office: quick to set up before people arrive, easy to undo, and funny to the person they land on.

1. Sticky note mosaic. Cover a coworker's desk partition in sticky notes that spell APRIL 1.
2. Googly eyes in the kitchen. Stick them on the fridge, the microwave, the kettle and the coffee machine.
3. Foil desk. Wrap a coworker's stapler, tape dispenser and pen cup in foil. Leave the computer alone.
4. Voice-activated coffee. Tape a sign to the coffee machine: "Now voice activated. Say 'coffee, please' clearly."
5. Balloon cubicle. Fill an empty cubicle or a meeting room with latex-free balloons. Ask facilities first.
6. The new attendee. Seat a cardboard cutout of a celebrity in the meeting room's empty chair.
7. Plant name tags. Give every office plant a name tag and a job title: Fern, Head of Oxygen.
8. Wet paint. Put a "Wet paint" sign on something nobody painted, like the water cooler.
9. New room names. Tape paper signs over the meeting room names: The Volcano Lair, The Nap Pod.
10. Upside-down art. Flip the wall art upside down and see how long it takes anyone to notice.
11. Employee of the Month: the printer. Frame a portrait of the printer with a plaque for outstanding service.
12. Desk dinosaurs. Pose a small toy dinosaur at every desk, each one looking busy.
13. New job titles. Tape paper over desk nameplates with new titles: Chief Snack Officer, VP of Vibes.
14. Gift-wrapped chair. Wrap a coworker's chair in wrapping paper with a bow on top.
15. Under renovation. Run caution tape around a cubicle with a sign: "Window installation in progress."

12 April Fools pranks for remote teams

For Zoom, Teams and Slack. Most of these work best when the whole team is in on it except one person, ideally the manager.

16. The frozen screen. Set your video background to a photo of yourself looking attentive, then walk into frame behind "you".
17. Everyone's on the beach. The whole team uses the same beach background and acts like it's normal.
18. We are all Steve. Everyone renames themselves Steve before the call. Nobody explains.
19. The emoji of the day. Pick one odd emoji, like the potato, and react with it to every message all day.
20. The buffering pause. Freeze mid-sentence for ten seconds, then carry on as if nothing happened.
21. Sound effects. Play a quick rooster crow every time someone unmutes in the first five minutes.
22. Full costume, no comment. Join standup in a full costume and say nothing about it.
23. Llama meetings. The whole team sets their status to "In a meeting with a llama".
24. The new team member. Your pet joins the call with its own display name and "attends" standup.
25. Movie quotes only. Answer everything in the first five minutes of standup with movie quotes.
26. Dress like the boss. The team shows up wearing the manager's trademark look: the same glasses, the same hoodie.
27. The very important slide. Share a slide titled "Q2 Strategy". It's a photo of a cat in a tie.

8 food pranks that are safe to eat

The trick is in how it looks, never in what's inside. Label ingredients on everything you bring.

28. Brown E's. Fill a brownie box with paper letter E's. Bring real brownies after the groan.
29. The healthy donut box. A donut box full of fruit. The real donuts come out ten minutes later.
30. The stapler cake. Order a cake that looks like a stapler or a stack of reports, tagged "Please eat me".
31. Jello stapler. Set a cheap stapler (not anyone's real one) in a jello mold and leave it in the kitchen.
32. Fruit with faces. Put googly eyes on the fruit bowl's apples and oranges.
33. Candy sushi. Crispy rice treats wrapped in fruit leather, served on a sushi platter with chopsticks.
34. Cookie burgers. Mini "burgers" made of cookies, frosting and coconut "lettuce", labeled with ingredients.
35. The jelly bean taste test. Ask the team to rank five "flavors" of jelly bean. They're all the same flavor.

10 team-wide pranks a manager can run

When the boss runs the prank, everyone gets to be in on it. These are built for the whole team to laugh together.

36. Mandatory fun. Send a calendar invite called "Mandatory Fun (15 min)". It's coffee and pastries.
37. The rubber duck hunt. Hide 50 rubber ducks around the office. Most ducks found by 4 pm wins lunch.
38. The office pet. Announce the office has adopted a pet, then introduce a stuffed animal with its own name badge.
39. Opposite day standup. Everyone reports what they did not do yesterday.
40. The mascot reveal. Unveil a new team mascot with a dramatic slide deck and a terrible slogan.
41. Spot the fake. Run two truths and a lie about the company, and give a prize for the best lie.
42. Pet rock day. Hand everyone a rock with googly eyes and ask them to introduce it to the team.
43. Sunglasses all-hands. Everyone wears sunglasses to the all-hands, and nobody mentions it.
44. The cardboard intern. Give a cardboard cutout a desk, a name badge and a warm welcome in the team channel.
45. Best prank awards. End the day with a quick vote on the best prank of the day, with a paper trophy.

For more ways to get the whole team laughing, try two truths and a lie, quick team meeting games or a round of office competition ideas.

April Fools pranks to skip at work

These show up on other prank lists. At work they cause stress, cleanup or a security scare.

• Changing settings, autocorrect or keys on someone's computer
• Fake emails from HR, IT or leadership (they look like phishing)
• Fake layoffs, firings, raises, promotions or office closures
• Swapping food, faking diet labels or hiding ingredients
• Anything that startles, falls on people or makes a mess on their things
• Pranks that involve customers or clients
• Pranking anyone who has said no, or anyone having a rough week

End the day with a game

Close April 1 with something the whole team plays together. A hosted virtual game show runs about an hour on Zoom with a live host, and works for office and remote people at once. Book about 2 weeks ahead, or get a free quote.

Two to look at: Your Favorite Game Shows! and Comfy Cozy Game Shows!