1

I love April Fools’ Day. Maybe it’s the opportunity to lie without actually being deceptive, kind of like writing a story. Not sure, but it’s fun.

About 10 years ago I worked with a girl from France who we hired as a community manager for our French-language site (different company). She got us into the tradition of taping paper fish to people without them knowing… an April Fool’s Day tradition from her country. So, for today I looked up traditions from other countries and thought it would be cool to vote on our favorites.

As I was reading through, my favorite was NPR in 2014. They promoted a story called “Why Doesn’t America Read Anymore?” It made a lot of people angry, and the comments section went crazy, but inside the story (if you actually clicked through and read it), it said “Congratulations, genuine readers, and happy April Fools’ Day!”

Anyway, the traditions are below (as reported in several online lists). If you find one you like, don’t hesitate to put it into practice today, and if there is one you like, or that you just made up, that you prefer, be sure to let us know in the comments. :slight_smile:

What are your favorite April Fools’ Day Traditions?
  • Attaching a paper fish to someone without them knowing.
  • Calling people that you successfully pranked “silly herrings.”
  • Dancing in the rain (because the rain has healing properties).
  • Dressing up as a noble.
  • Eating fish-shaped treats.
  • Having a big picnic with family and friends.
  • Hunting for gowk (like a snipe hunt)
  • Passing a sealed message to someone that leads to another one, then another, like a treasure hunt, but no treasure, just the messages.
  • Pinning a tail on someone.
  • Playing a prank on someone to bring good luck or a bountiful harvest.
  • Putting a fake insect in a desk or someplace it will surprise the finder.
  • Putting a sign on someone’s back. (Like “kick me.”)
  • Send people to the Tower of London to see “the washing of the lions.”
  • Sending someone to the store to buy an imaginary item (a “fool’s errand”).
  • Setting someone’s clock forward (incorrectly).
  • Shooting each other with water guns filled with colored water.
  • Telling an outrageous but generally harmless story to friends.
  • Throwing colored powder at each other.
  • Throwing flour on others.
  • Town-wide food fight.
  • News article / television segment about something that isn’t true or doesn’t actually exist.
  • Other (tell us below).
0 voters
24 Spice ups
2

FIRST: Not an April Fool, well maybe I am…

Fool’s Errand: This was done to new people working in fast food, "Newbie, go into the refrigerator and get the ‘plain sauce’. This was not limited to 4/1.

Fake Insect: We would put cricket noisemakers around people’s desks and watch them go nuts looking for the cricket.

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News article / television segment about something that isn’t true or doesn’t actually exist.: That is what H.G. Wells said about The War of the Worlds :slight_smile:

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10 Spice ups
3

I miss pranking my kids. When they were little, sneak in and move their socks and underwear. Daughter would freak out, son could care less. Making food that looked like something else, ie a sandwich that looked like a layer cake. Stuffing their backpacks with packing peanuts.
This morning came in to a cloud service being down. Not a happy Monday.

4 Spice ups
4

Sneaking in some good “news” is always nice…Sometimes, I get on a “roll”.

1 Spice up
5

I saw a joke put a sticky note under a mouse it won’t work, I took one further and use scotch tape it either don’t work or acts drunken, the tape is a little less obvious they flip it over they still see the light and then think it is broken or PC has issues.

4 Spice ups
6

I hate April Fools day. Spent too much of my life being the “fool” of people’s jokes.

6 Spice ups
7

This is what my wife received today. lol

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6 Spice ups
8

Back when peeps were in the office, putting Post-it notes on the bottom of laser mice. Watched one person pick up the mouse see the Post-it over the laser, put it back down and still try to use it. Laughs ensued. AF day now is relegated to prank emails about some ridiculous new policy or software roll out.

1 Spice up
9

Many years back, a local Austin TX radio rock station broadcasted about a live and free concert with multiple popular bands, living and not, with music playing and station reporters hyping up the event as if there… it was great. People kept calling in wanting directions to this “live” concert.

Don’t recall the radio station call name, guessing a spice member might remember this too.

4 Spice ups
10

The Annoy-o-tron was a favorite for several years, until someone found it and snapped it in half :frowning:, or rotating screens because it’s an easy fix and a reminder to lock one’s computer when stepping away.

4 Spice ups
11

For a large portion of our users, they need to change their password today if they haven’t already. To make matters even better, they’re are all off today for Easter Monday.

2 Spice ups
12

I brought cookies into the office today, put a note on it saying “Happy April Fools Day”. There’s nothing wrong with them, just want to see who is brave enough to try them. LOL.

Edit: The cookies were gone by noon.

13 Spice ups
13

I’m such a geek, so I always look for any new April 1st RFCs.
Note: Nothing yet this year, but plenty of past ones to reminisce about.

Then I check Google, but it seems they haven’t done much since the pandemic.

3 Spice ups
14

that’s awesome! :joy: i’m going g to have to remember this for next year.

4 Spice ups
15

Wishing people a Happy New Year, for those who do not conform to Christian standards instead of ridiculing them for having different beliefs.

1 Spice up
16

My dad was always a prankster, but made it a habit to go the extra mile for April Fool’s. When I was a kid, we had one of those hand sprayers at the kitchen sink, and he taped the handle in the open position so whoever happened to turn on the faucet would get sprayed. We finally learned and didn’t fall for it one year, and he completely forgot he’d done it and ended up spraying himself!

6 Spice ups
17

I always enjoyed the fake products or websites that were put out by various companies but I haven’t seen any in a few years.

4 Spice ups
18

Back in the day, we would remove the “ball” from someone’s mouse and put it in their desk drawer.
Also, could edit their win.ini file and set
shell=freecell.exe
I suppose the win.ini trick might still work.

3 Spice ups
19

Sending out a memo on the last business day of March to the effect of:

“New corporate policy: All company calendars are to have April 1 removed from them as we will proceed straight to April 2nd to reduce distractions and miscommunications caused by April Fools’ Day.”

6 Spice ups
20

I was going to post that. I do that every year and it does work, or the mouse doesn’t appear to work LOL. I have a pad of 2x2 stickies ready for my first victim coming back from lunch today. I can’t wait.

3 Spice ups