Here are last years pranks…

Fun With Jello:  April Fools Jello Pranks

1.  Late the night before, dissolve clear gelatin, cool and pour into toilet.  It will set overnight and if you are lucky the user will be mystified by their suspended stuff.  Here is how to do it:  Estimate the amount of water your toilet holds by pouring a big pan or bucket of water into the bowl- this will cause the water to empty out of the toilet bowl.  Then pour pre-measured water into toilet until it is at about the same level it was before.  (I estimated that my toilet holds 8-9 cups of water.)  For each cup of water your toilet holds, use 1 packet of clear gelatin.  Measure determined amount of water into a pan.  Sprinkle gelatin over water and let sit for 5 minutes.  Heat over medium heat until gelatin is dissolved.  Cool to room temperature- you still want it to be a runny consistency.  Flush water out of toilet bowl with a pan or bucket full of water.  Pour gelatin into toilet bowl and allow to sit overnight.  To flush, break up gelatin with a toilet brush and flush.

Well this didn’t work exactly as planned.  For one, clear gelatin is not exactly clear so it doesn’t look like water- unless you live somewhere with a lot of minerals in the water.  But it did accomplish the goal of confusion, mostly that of why is the toilet not flushing right?  My 7 year old said, “someone put too much toilet paper in the toilet.”  To which I replied, “but there isn’t any toilet paper in the toilet.”  My husband thought he must be dehydrated because his job looked darker than usual.

2.  You could do the above prank using lemon jello in place of clear.

I think this would work well.  The person would try to flush it before using it and then wonder why it was not working right.  It would work well on dinner guests who would have to suffer the embarrassment of telling you that the toilet is having issues.

3.  Remove the shower head, put dry red jello in the shower head and replace for a Psycho-like shower prank.

This had a little hiccup in that the water did not immediately come out- perhaps the jello had solidified in the apparatus and thus it took a moment for the water to break through.  Anyway, that gave my victims time to suspect a prank.  When it did come out it, it did produce the desired effect!  Perhaps the original Kool-Aid in the shower head would work better.

4.  Put a little Methylene Blue in blue jello.  This can be purchased at a pet store in the fish department.  Make sure it is labeled simply Methylene Blue.  The first pet store we tried did not have it, but the next one did.  Just a few drops, should work.  Those who partake of the jello will urinate blue.  (I have always wanted to do this, but have been worried about safety-  I am afraid someone will have an allergic reaction to blue dye or ingest too much.)  I called my brother-in-law who is a Zoologist and works with fish and a friend talked to a pharmacist.  They said that it is generally considered harmless in small amounts.  I am going to give it a try- I’ll let you know how it works out.

I was so excited to try this one, but have to admit failure.  The Methylene Blue is extremely bitter.  I tried 4 times to adjust things to disguise the bitterness, all to no avail.  I added 5 cups of additional sugar, but the bitterness was still evident and my victims would not partake more than a couple spoonfuls.  I guess I will have to work on it a little more- stayed tuned for my attempt next year.  Plan on doing it the night before April Fools.  We tested it and it takes overnight to produce the desired effect.

5.  Of course you could mimic the Office prank, by encasing someone’s stapler in jello or your spouses car keys or your teenager’s cell phone.

I didn’t try this one, but the cell phone thing sounds tempting.

6.  Empty victim’s shampoo or body wash from bottle and rinse.  Make a package of jello- as directed, that corresponds to the color of shampoo or body wash.  Carefully pour jello into the empty bottle and place in fridge to set up.  Early in the morning, place bottle back where it was removed from in the shower or tub.

This one  worked like a charm.  I was lucky in that I was able to perfectly match the body wash.  We also had three bottles that were pretty much empty.  Prepare jello as directed.  Pour into body wash bottle and turn upside-down to set up.

7.  Make one of the more interesting (code word for repulsive) recipes from an old Joys of Jello recipe book and take to a neighbor, family member or you could leave it on someone’s doorstep with a nice note.

Let us hear about your April Fools Jello Joy!