Readers submit April Fools' Day gags

• April Fools

April Fools

Talk about it

This could be the most important story you’ll ever read.

April Fools!

We asked readers and Echo Press staff to submit their favorite April Fools’ memories to the newspaper – instances where they played the prank or were the victim of an April 1 joke.

Here are the responses:

My husband pulled this one on me a few weeks prior to April Fools’ Day:

I hard-boil eggs a dozen at a time, cool them, write a letter C on them, put them back in a carton and back in the fridge (I usually have a carton for cooked and a carton for raw).

My husband took a raw egg, marked it with a C and put it in with the carton of cooked eggs.

Needless to say, one early morning while getting my salad lunch together to take to work, I cracked one egg, peeled and sliced it for my salad – all went well. The next egg I cracked, I had raw egg running down my hands, on the counter. Yuck!

My husband was out of town on a business trip when this happened. My first thought was, how in the world? The egg has a C on it. I couldn’t have marked a raw egg and put it in the carton of cooked eggs.

Suddenly, a bright light went on – hmmm, I will get him back! I haven’t thought of a really, really good prank yet, but his time is coming.

– Karen Jennissen, Garfield

• • •

We pulled one on my mom every year! In our house growing up, every once in awhile the toilet upstairs would overflow and make a total mess. So every single year on April Fools’ Day, one of us (usually me) would scream in panic, “Mom! Mom! The toilet is overflowing!”

She would freak out and start swearing and screaming and she would run upstairs only to find us standing there saying, “April Fools!”

She fell for it every year. To this day, I call her every April Fools’ Day and tell her the toilet is overflowing.

– Jo Colvin, Alexandria

• • •

Several years ago I gave a “south of the border” party complete with a piñata horse. The hindquarters of that poor beast were ripped to shreds by the zealous party-goers, but the head was completely intact. I felt bad about throwing it away.

Then, an evil plot hatched in my brain. My brother and sister-in-law are huge Godfather fans. What if I snuck the horse head into their house on April Fools’ Day and hid it in their bed?

Well, the party was in September, so I actually stored the head away for seven whole months, but the day finally came and I raced over to my brother’s house at lunchtime and planted the head, giggling furiously the entire time.

That night I got a phone call from a very quizzical sister-in-law. “Were you at our house today? Do you know anything about a horse head?”

I burst out laughing, thrilled with my joke. In the end, I probably enjoyed it more than my “victims.” Every time I think of it I grin from ear to ear.

– Sheri Holm, Fergus Falls

• • •

One morning on the first of April, I heard my parents discussing who was going to go make breakfast while watching television in the basement. I came out and said, “I will make breakfast.” They agreed.

Laughing as I walked upstairs to the kitchen. I sat there and for about 10 minutes or so sat there and casually would bang a few pots and pans together to make them think I was doing something, then I proceeded to walk to the top of the stairway and held down the test button on the fire alarm and yelled, “Fire!”

They came running through the stairway fighting to be the first up the stairs and saw me standing there, and instantly knew April Fools!

– Brit K., Forada

• • •

My mother, Vivian Dougherty, would always make a good breakfast for my sister, Anne, and I as kids growing up. On April 1 of each year, she would make waffles and hide a piece of fine gauze in the waffle batter before she made one and then watch from the kitchen as my sister and I tried to cut through those darned waffles.

We fell for it every year, too!

– Todd Dougherty, Chamberlain, South Dakota

• • •

My aunt was just telling me that they would grease up the toilet seat or they would cover the toilet bowl with saran wrap. Kind of gross, I know.

– Linda Jenson, Glenwood

• • •

We were visiting our cousin when he asked me to shorten his trousers from a brand new suit he bought to attend a wedding in a couple of weeks.

I shortened the slacks, then held them up and one leg looked shorter than the other. I had folded one up a little and held it with a couple of pins.

I said something like, "Oh no! I cut one two inches shorter than the other. What in the world can I do?"

I finally convinced him that I really had ruined his trousers before I said, "April Fools!"

The only reason I remembered that is today, I shortened a pair of slacks I bought yesterday for myself. When I put them on, they were four inches too short. April Fools to me!

– Darlene Neuman, Alexandria

• • •

I put lotion on my parents’ bathroom toilet, trying to get my mom back. My dad ended up with diarrhea and ended up running to the bathroom, slid off the toilet seat, ripped the towel bar off the wall and landed in the shower. My dad came out with a smile on his face and said his rear hasn't been that soft in a long time. My mom and I had a very good laugh.

– Erica Schroeder, Willmar (formerly of Alexandria)

• • •

Lastly, here’s a classic April 1 prank that several Echo Press workers reported:

Take a rubber band and wrap it around the sprayer in a sink to keep the trigger open. Then position the sprayer so that the next person who turns on the faucet will get a face-full of water. April Fools!

Tags: news, gags