Practical Jokes

I like to play jokes. Always liked the show 'Candid Camera', now there is 'Skunked TV'. I laugh till my sides ache! It's good not to take ourselves too seriously. In one prank, someone hides in a hole and they cover him with fishing net & trash. They scatter bottles and scrap metal on the beach, then recruit people to clean up the mess. A hidden camera captures the surprise as they go pick up trash around the net and something grabs them. Another prank is two people posing as officials giving out speeding tickets in a parking garage. Okay, people are driving very slowly in there, but who cares, they get a violation anyway. Even make one up, like 'Speedbump Clearance Violations'.
- One night I crawled under my roomates bed. She came in and when she sat down, I reached out & grabbed her by the ankles while growling. She screamed bloody murder and jumped around for about 5 minutes- really creeped her out! Hilarious!! (You DON'T even want to know what she did to me.)
- I was hall monitor with 3 other ladies in the dorm. The girls were being little Divas- ohhh the drama we put up with AND they would do stuff like steal our phones or hide in each others rooms so we had to do count several times before going off duty. One Sat. nite the Dean was gone, we informed the Assistent Dean of our plan. During late-night room check we put vasoline on their inside doorknobs- slicked 'em up real good! Then set off the fire alarms. 3 floors of half-asleep, panicky girls tried to open slick doors with no luck. We let them yell for about 5 mins., turned off the alarms, announcing on the PA "false alarm, go back to sleep".
- I often made treats for neighbors. Once I made cookies with lots of baking soda in them. Delivered them myself and sat there waiting for them to try the fresh cookies. They were eager at first, then tried to be polite- even though the salty/bitter taste was overwhelming. I encouraged them to eat that batch and call me as soon as they were gone so I could bring more. After a while, I called to ask how they liked the cookies. I said, "Hey, you never called, but I figured you were out by now, so I made you 2 dozen more of the same recipe." She stammered, trying to come up with a legit reason NOT to bring them over.
- A joke in our family was decorating the deer-head trophy in Grandpa's house with Grandma's big jewelry. Oh YES, the deer looked really sweet in big clip-on earrings, rings on it's antlers, a frilly scark around it's neck and a rose in it's mouth.

Things to consider when playing pranks:
1) Consider age, health & sense of humor of intended targets. Generally NOT a good idea to scare the elderly or mess with really serious people. Not a good idea to play a joke on your new boss. Never, never in church.
2) Make sure your joke won't seriously hurt any person or animal, or make someone sick.
3) Have a camcorder or camera on hand to capture the fun.
4) Don't pull pranks that will obviously hurt someone's feelings. Example, I never joke around with my Bubba teeth if someone present has bad teeth.
5) Use evenings or weekends- people are relaxed and have time to clean-up if it's messy. If you dump a bucket of water on your secretary, she's going to have to sit at her desk with bad hair and wet clothes all day- unless she has the best sense of humor ever- she will probably hate you.
6) A prank should stir somebody up- fluster them, but don't be cruel. Telling a mother her kids are missing or injured is NOT funny! Don't do anything with real body fluids- gross!!
7) Don't permanently damage property- clothing, car or home. Friends quickly turn into enemies this way.
8) Safest bets are wild scenarios, making mystery sounds, funny smells that will go away and bad tastes.
9) Pick someone to prank who isn't obviously in a hurry- they get ticked off easily.
10) Don't take it too far! If it's obvious the target of your humor is seriously upset, admit it's a joke & apologize.
11) If you play a joke on someone, they may play one on you. Be a good sport. Don't dish it out if you can't take it.
12) Whenever possible, make a fool of yourself, instead of someone else. I do this well & enjoy the reactions I get.

What was your best prank ever? Was a joke ever played on you?? :o)