[Schriscoe Posts: 2,988 Status: Offline www.sharonchriscoebooks.com WWW]

I am looking for some harmless pranks that a 9 or 10 year old would think is hilarious and it would get them in trouble yet no one get hurt.

All thoughts and suggestions welcomed and appreciated. Thank you in advance!!

[JodyJS Posts: 1,590 Status: Offline A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK WWW]

How about something like putting a fake snake in someone's chair? Or a whoopie cushion? Or loosening the lid on the salt shaker? Or putting celophane over the top of the shaker, then putting the lid back on?

Wow. Why do I know so many of these?

[Schriscoe Posts: 2,988 Status: Offline www.sharonchriscoebooks.com WWW]

How about something like putting a fake snake in someone's chair? Or a whoopie cushion? Or loosening the lid on the salt shaker? Or putting celophane over the top of the shaker, then putting the lid back on?

Wow. Why do I know so many of these?

Ha! Love these Jody!! Thank you!!   And Lol I so  wished we could have hung out in Middle School!! I bet you were a riot!!

[JodyJS Posts: 1,590 Status: Offline A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK WWW]

See, that's the thing, Sharon. I never did any of these things, straight-laced, rule-follower that I was. Perhaps it's my personal aversion to practical jokes that makes them stick in my head.  Still, yes on hanging out in middle school. 

[Schriscoe Posts: 2,988 Status: Offline www.sharonchriscoebooks.com WWW]

I think that one of the beauties of us being writers.  We get to allow our characters to do the things we never did.

Still open for lots more ideas. My MC needs lots of them to accomplish his goal. 

[Vijaya Posts: 8,476 Status: Offline LISTEN. Let all mortal flesh keep silence ... WWW]

How about something like putting a fake snake in someone's chair? Or a whoopie cushion? Or loosening the lid on the salt shaker? Or putting celophane over the top of the shaker, then putting the lid back on?

Wow. Why do I know so many of these?

Piggybacking on Jody ... reversing salt and sugar, catching frogs and putting them in backpacks, those school desks that open, hiding your sister's favorite socks, shoes, dress, changing jackets on book covers, bonus points for having an adult book, locking someone in a closet (this is mean but not dangerous), sliding a hair clip in your brother's hair, would cutting hair be going too far? I mean, it is hair and it grows back, stuffing snow in boots.

Looks like you're going to have lots of fun with your characters, Sharon.

[Pons Posts: 3,589 Status: Offline]

Arranging all of his siblings stuffed animals so that their backs are facing their owner or facing front holding a sign that says something negative: We don't like you - or something else.

Putting something teasing on a sibling's laptop as a screensaver that scrolls across the screen.

Putting anonymous clues to a fake treasure hunt in sibling's room in order to get his hopes up and waste his time.

Photobombing in sly and sneaky ways.

Getting a group of people to go up to someone in school and ask repeatedly throughout the day, "Do you fell all right? You look sick?"

[JFriday Posts: 900 Status: Offline]

Stacking empty boxes across a room to make a wall, or in a doorway so when the person opens the door, there's a wall. Shaving cream on someone's hand who is sleeping, then tickling their nose (okay, that one's an old camp trick). Putting a mirror in an unexpected place to startle someone. Poking part of a piece of money through a crack, like under a door or between deck planking, and yanking it away when someone reaches for it.

[Schriscoe Posts: 2,988 Status: Offline www.sharonchriscoebooks.com WWW]

Okay, can I just say that you guys are a tad bit on the scary side!  Memo to self : NEVER get any of you on my bad side.

This is all fantastic!! EXACTLY what I was looking for! I see so many of these that will work perfect in the book I am drafting!!

All of you = 

[Barbara Etlin Posts: 2,700 Status: Offline WWW]

Never did a prank when I was a kid; I waited until I was at my second fulltime job, where it was part of the culture.

- rigged a small stuffed mouse on a string to climb a cubicle wall
- made a collage, cutting out letters using one of my colleagues' name, and inserting it into an embarrassing newspaper headline, and tacking it onto his bulletin board
- My boss rigged a cuckoo clock to chime unexpectedly while someone (usually the department head) was talking in his office. It seemed like an editorial comment. 

[Schriscoe Posts: 2,988 Status: Offline www.sharonchriscoebooks.com WWW]

Hehe, I think I'd die of a heart attack on that mouse prank, Barbara! I don't do mice. AT ALL. lol

But it most definitely could work awesomely in my book!! 

[Melissa K Posts: 827 Status: Offline]

Superglue a coin to the ground and laugh at people who try to pick it up. Write a fake note from someone's crush and arrange a meeting that's never going to happen. Sign a classmate up for an activity he or she doesn't actually want to do.

[sophielynette Posts: 33 Status: Offline You're never too old for penguins!]

Replace a hard boiled egg in someone's lunch with a raw one. 
Put something gross like lotion on the underside of a doorknob. 

[June Smalls Posts: 150 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Practical jokes are a 'thing' at our work place.
Most common are:
Hiding under a desk (or in the kitchenette) to jump/scare.
Cutting a hole in their straw, just under the lid so they suck air-no drink.
Stabbing a hole in their soda can, just under where your mouth covers so you get chin dribble (Everyone at work carries box cutters, hence the many cutting jokes.)
One girl plastered Justin Bieber photos all over the office of our supervisor. He's very rock/metal so especially fun!
We also had about a dozen whoopee cushions at one point making their way around the office. You can get them in bulk at a party supply store.
Good luck with your WIP!

[JFriday Posts: 900 Status: Offline]

Reading through these is like having minor nightmares...

[marla-lesage Posts: 361 Status: Offline Write. Illustrate. Revise.]

My friends & I taped a dead garter snake to the neighbours mailbox...
We had free run of a network of trails in the woods behind our house & one at least 2 occasions took friends into the woods then ran as fast as we could away so they would get "lost".  Also strung yarn across the trails to "booby trap" them.  God, we were horrible!

[Arona Posts: 672 Status: Offline The house didn't fall on me. It fell on my sister.]

Most places I've worked, and relationships I've had, were big on pranks, so....

I stuffed a found dead mouse in the toe part of someone's sneakers they'd taken off.

I stuffed a biology lab rat in someone's potato chip bag. (Every morning she put a big bag in the side drawer of her desk and munched on/off; when it got low enough but not empty, in went the rat.)

I enlisted help in emptying out a boss's office (desk, everything) and shut the door.  Boss walked into his office with HIS new boss before we could give him a head's up.

A guy once smeared the underside of my car door handle with chocolate frosting-----we worked in a zoo so your mind instantly went to poop! To get even, I had to orchestrate the event and organize other people to help with the timing, but I hid in a big garbage dumpster (cardboard-only dumpster) waiting for him to slide open the door, where I simultaneously screamed bloody murder and threw cardboard out at him.  He FLEW back, screeching like a little girl.

Glued someone's office door shut.

Saturated a co-worker's fabric chair with water; they couldn't see it was wet b/c the fabric was black.

This took two of us, each armed with huge rolls of heavy-duty packing tape in commercial tape dispensers:  took our victim by surprise (shock and awe), wound him up in the tape mummy-style, and then taped him to a wall.

Taped a sign to a new part-timer's back, a young, shy teen:  "Help me. I'm new and I'm shy. Please say, "Hi, Mike!" (Came a point in time he asked how people knew his name. I said, "Think about it....").

Sent the same kid (alone) up the new tiger trail at dusk the first day the exhibit opened but after the zoo closed, knowing he didn't know about the life-sized tiger model that growled, sensing any motion, that sat on a blind corner of the trail.

Co-workers Gorilla-taped the bottoms of all the telephone receivers in their cradles in both of my departments on a morning they knew I was working alone, and then kept calling. (This is how World Wars begin.)

Replaced someone's milk with buttermilk. (It shot through their nose.)

Geez, the list goes on and on. And on.

[June Smalls Posts: 150 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

I bow down to you, Arona!

Reminded me of a few.
Praying mantis on boss's rearview mirror.
Guy at work taped a beard hair to a phone so it tickled the victim's chin every answer.

We send new kids at work to get the key to the basement. Each manager says the other has it. 4 to 5 managers all send them searching. We have no badement.

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 4,943 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

Just a quick heads up, some of the above might be dangerous. I'm thinking about situations where the person has an allergy, say to the chocolate or the tape glue. Also, the raw egg could be dangerous if the recipient was too young to know about salmonella and clean up effectively or accidentally ate even a small amount. (I've had it. Not fun or funny.)

Now back to the regularly scheduled programming. Food dye added in any opaque container where the item gets used on skin or eaten. (Purel, soap, water bottle--This is why the container has to be opaque.)

[Arona Posts: 672 Status: Offline The house didn't fall on me. It fell on my sister.]

Oh, for the days before allergies ran amuck. When your parents had you eat dirt to boost your immune system and PBJ sandwiches were either on the school menu or in every other kids' lunch box. Never considered the responsibility a writer may or may not have writing about peanut butter or glue tape in kidlit.

[JFriday Posts: 900 Status: Offline]

Arona, I never want to work with you. Ever.


...unless we're on the same side...

[Long Hair Posts: 26 Status: Offline Please forgive typos. My cat is on the keyboard.]

As an immature male adult, I second any snake pranks. I recently tied a rubber snake to the inside of a co-workers office closet so when he opened the door, it looked like the snake was lunging from the shelf to strike him.  Rubber bugs, mice, spiders... all are winners - guilty of them all.  This week my son hung a zombie mask inside my closet right at eye level, that was a good one. 

[AnnH Posts: 1,919 Status: Offline I love to read and write! WWW]

See, that's the thing, Sharon. I never did any of these things, straight-laced, rule-follower that I was. Perhaps it's my personal aversion to practical jokes that makes them stick in my head.  Still, yes on hanging out in middle school. 

Same here! :D

[Schriscoe Posts: 2,988 Status: Offline www.sharonchriscoebooks.com WWW]

You guys are wickedly awesome!! I am loving reading all of these pranks!!! SO fun!

And well, I'm thinking that a BB party would be super cool, and scary all at once. lol

Thank you all SO much! I have to say this thread have been a hoot to read!

[Barbara Etlin Posts: 2,700 Status: Offline WWW]

Here's one more we did in my office.  In the art director's office, there was a shelf at the back.  We took an old long-sleeved sweater, a pair of boots,  a basketball, and a hat.  We stuffed the sweater etc. with newspaper, and turned it into a "person" sitting on her back shelf. She screamed and jumped when she saw it. 

I'm enjoying reading about all the pranks. I need some for my historical MG. Thanks!

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 4,943 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

Oh, for the days before allergies ran amuck. When your parents had you eat dirt to boost your immune system and PBJ sandwiches were either on the school menu or in every other kids' lunch box. Never considered the responsibility a writer may or may not have writing about peanut butter or glue tape in kidlit.

Our schools still serve PB&J. I think it's all in the age of the audience and in how well the prankers know the person they're pranking. Stuffed people in the closet of the 80 year old granny with the heart condition might not be the best plan. But the chocolate or PB could be fine for a kid you know well enough to know is allergy free. Sharon is going to have to do some real thinking about which of these fit best and where, and whether, any harm might be done. Safety was one of the parameters set up in her original post.

I feel sorry for her family if she's one of those authors who likes to see how things really work before writing them. Yep.

[June Smalls Posts: 150 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Once my brother swapped out green kool aid for pickle juice. THAT was a shock!

[Helen Posts: 324 Status: Offline WWW]

April Fools Day is quite an event at my house especially when my daughters where younger. Here are a few of their pranks:
Mint toothpaste in an Oreo. (Yes. I fell for that one. Ate the whole cookie. Wondered, "Huh, did I buy mint Oreos?")
Saran wrap under the toilet seat. (Did not fall for that one. Was on the lookout.)
Ketchup blood. (We were visiting in Louisiana. Daughter claimed an alligator  bit her hand. I asked you, "Do you want fries with that ketchup?" )
Fake cockroach on my pillow. (Shrieked and attacked it with a vengeance.)

[Vijaya Posts: 8,476 Status: Offline LISTEN. Let all mortal flesh keep silence ... WWW]

Nice comeback with the fries, Helen  
Fun thread.

[Schriscoe Posts: 2,988 Status: Offline www.sharonchriscoebooks.com WWW]

I am LOVING the responses here!! Thank you SO much everyone!! Not only am I finding awesome material but you guys are hilarious (and a bit scary  )!!