In this time of self-isolation and stay-at-home orders, we all could you a little harmless fun in the form of April fools jokes. This year, however, the jokes are centered more around pranks you can pull over the phone and facetime since in-person pranks are not possible for most of us. 

Pranks to pull over facetime or Zoom  

1. Masks for facetime 

Are you calling your grandparents or friends today? Well, if you are, consider printing out a picture of them to wear over your face when you answer the call. Not only is this prank harmless, seeing your own face when you answer the phone can be mildly frightening and give whoever answers a good scare. 

2. Background switch

Today is crazy background day for spirit week, so to get in the spirit, use a crazy background that will really throw your teacher and fellow students off. One option would be to screenshot your teacher’s background and put that as your own (bonus points if you can get your whole class to do it) and see how long it takes for them to notice. 

3. Snap Camera 

This joke is less of a prank and more used for a good laugh. Snap Camera is a program you can download to use fun filters while video conferencing on applications like Zoom. 

4. Quick change

This prank is a little harder to pull off, but it’s still possible. To begin, you need to set a background picture of yourself on your Zoom without you in the frame. Then, wearing a different outfit than what is set as your background, pop back into the frame and turn your background off, wearing that new outfit and see if anyone notices your quick change. 

Pranks to pull on the people you are living with 

1. Googly eyes

This is a classic prank, but a good one. Put googly eyes on every item in your fridge or pantry, so when your family opens the fridge or pantry they get a little surprise to brighten their day. 

2. Do not open unless you plan to kill it cup

This prank has a bit of a more sinister edge to it and is perfect if you want to frighten your siblings or parents just a little bit. Place an empty cup upside down on your table with the words “Do not open unless you plan to kill it” written on the cup or a notecard next to the cup. The scariest part of this prank is that if someone is brave enough to open the cup to kill the insect, there will be nothing there, meaning the imaginary insect has escaped. 

3. Swapping out Family photos 

My personal favorite prank, swapping out family photos, or altering them in some way is just subtle enough to potentially go on for a long time before someone notices. You have a lot of freedom with this prank and some good options include replacing entire photos with all pictures of yourself or some celebrity, placing cut out faces of someone of your choosing over everyone’s head in all your photos or just altering a single person in each photo. Seeing how long it takes your family to notice is half the fun.