Wednesday, March 30, 2011

April Fool's Day- 33 HARMLESS, PESKY PRANKS

Pesky pranks
1. Spray nozzle or taped faucets- this one's kind of sentimental for me... THIS is the VERY PRANK that fueled my fire and love for this holiday! The first April we were married, my husband took a rubber band and wound it tightly around the kitchen sink's spray nozzle and left it aimed at where my face would be. When I turned on the water, it DRENCHED me! Haha! Of course he knew that meant war!!! Twelve years later, we're still going strong!
2. Fingernail polish spill- take a piece of wax paper and a bottle of fingernail polish that you don't mind ruining. Spill out contents onto paper, let dry, peel paper off, and leave on victim's clothing or an important document. You may want to do this one a week in advance. It takes quite a while for the polish to dry. I'd recommend using quick-dry nail polish and a hairdryer. If your "spill" doesn't peel off the wax paper very well, just cut around it as close to the edges as possible.

3. Blue teeth/ numb mouth- put a small drop of food coloring in center of toothbrush. Make sure to use the same color as the bristles. ALSO, you could put some oragel numbing gel deep in the base of the bristles... one of my FAVE'S!
4. Superglue shampoo lid shut. It will make them have to unscrew the lid.
5. Icy Hot/Bengay or thumbtack toilet seat- smear a small amount of Icy Hot or Bengay on toilet seat and wipe it mostly off so you can't tell it's there. TRUST ME, it doesn't take much for it to work! You could also line toilet seat with thumb tacks! Dun dun duuuuuun!

DISCLAIMER- Okay, so this one's only harmless if you're ABSOLUTELY SURE your victim will see the tack-lined seat BEFORE they sit. It's meant to be more of an inconvenience (as they have to remove the tacks before they sit) than a super-pokey encounter. Haha!
6. Block the remote signal with a piece of opaque tape.
7. Soap that won't lather- paint soap with clear fingernail polish and leave in the shower!

8. Glue end of tiolet paper roll onto itself so victim can't find it!
9. Glued-shut card- make a nice card for someone you owe a "thanks" to. Glue it shut so they can't open it.
10. Taped light switch- My kids LOVE this one! They seem to forget I do it every year, too! Just tape it down so they can't turn the light on.
11. Vaseline door knob- place a glob under the bottom of door know so you can't see it.
12. TP the bed- While victim is sleeping, roll TP under and over bed so when they wake up, they're stuck!
13. Place piles of confetti on top of ceiling fan blades so when it turns on, surprise! This one would be fun for someone's birthday, too! I have to say, it's much better than the big old globs of lotion I used to squeeze onto the fan blades! My mom was NOT thrilled about the mess that one made! Haha!
14. Plastic wrap shampoo/salt shaker- Unscrew lids, place a small piece of plastic wrap over opening, replace lid, and tear off the excess evidence.
15. Karo syrup towel- It's clear, so you can't tell it's on there until it's too late!
16. Hair gel hand soap- replace your liquid hand soap with the same color of hair gel.
17. Can't use-it gel/hairspray/cologne- using a temporary glue or double-stick foam, stick most frequently-used items to counter top or bathroom cupboard so they're hard to pick up!
18. Whoopi cushion on chair... you could also use bubble wrap!
19. Shoe surprise- you can stick either legos, small water balloons, or frozen coins inside victims shoes.
20. Cereal box/candy bag swap-out in original packaging
21. Bedroom doorTug of War- This prank can be pulled on two victims who have bedroom doors directly across the hall from each other (dorms usually work well for this). Use a rope to tie both door knobs to each other, with just enough slack to allow one door to open a crack. Then knock loudly on both doors at the same time. The victims will end up in a tug of war trying to get out.
22. Take a needle and thread and run it through every pair of underwear in the victim's drawer, so that they are attached in one long string. When they get dressed, they will grab one pair but end up with them all!
23. All Sewed Up- This prank has to be done to a very sound sleeper. While they are sleeping, sneak in and use a needle and thread to sew their pajamas to the bed! I did this one to my husband last year and it was HI-LAR-IOUS watching him try to get out of the bed! I, of course had to set him free. We both had a good laugh over this one!
24. Have A Cold One- If your victim wears the same hat every day, take it the night before, get it wet, and put it in the freezer. Right before the victim gets ready to leave, place the hat in the normal place. They will get a chilly surprise! You can also do this to a woman's bra!
25. Out is the New In- Turn your victim's backpack inside out. Wait until they're not around, then take everything out of their bag, turn it inside out and replace the items. Then wait for their surprised reaction! I'm soooo doing this to my kids this year!
26. Blast 'Em- Set the victim's TV to an obnoxious channel like Cartoon Network or the heavy metal channel, and turn the volume up to max volume. Now turn off the TV set. When your victim comes back and turns on the TV they will be surprised by a blast of loud programming!
27. Going Buggy- This one takes some prep time, but I think it would be cool. Take a picture of the top part of the kitchen counter. Go on the internet and search for a picture of a cockroach. Then, copy it on to the picture of the counter. Print out a few copies (cut off any extra white space), and place them on the counter. At first glance, your victim will think the kitchen is infested! This would be AWESOME if you did it to a germ-a-phobic friend!
28. The Run Around- Set this prank up ahead of time by letting the kids know you're planning on having some painting done in the house. Then, before they come home from school, put up two signs: on the front door - "Wet Paint - Use Back Door," on the back door - "Wet Paint - Use Front Door." Then see how many times they'll run around the house trying to get in.'
29. Set your friends/family up to think you've prepped a whole bunch a pranks for them... them do nothing and watch them nervously anticipate tricks that never happen all day. This is the lazy-holidayer's approach. Oh well, at least it's something!
 30. While You Were Sleeping- Carefully paint the toenails/fingernails or draw eyeliner mustaches on your victim while they are sleeping. We did this to our kids last year. It was so awesome because they had no idea (about the mustaches) until they went in the bathroom to get ready! One of them didn't discover their pretty toenails until after school that day! Haha, got ya!
31. Job/Chore Chart Switch- If you have a job/chore chart in your home, change it up! Instead of their usual jobs, have them do things like:  Bark like a dog 10 times, Pay the bills, Drive the kids to the park (great for young kids), Mow the lawn using scissors, Wash your clothes by hand, Sweep the driveway with a toothbrush, Jump on the trampoline without stopping for 20 minutes, Touch your nose with your tongue, Tickle Elmo, Count your toes, Sing an opera song--mom's choice, and more. Of course they know you're joking, you decide if you want to use things they can really do or not. My kids didn't end up doing any of them, but sure got the giggles while reading them! You can get creative and come up with whatever is funny to your family!
**This one was suggested by a viewer...
32. Have you ever heard of the Mento's and Diet Coke explosion experiment? Well, HERE'S a video showing how to turn it into a prank! So awesome! Just make sure it's done OUTSIDE! Maybe at an outdoor BBQ or something. Too funny!
(**Thanks, Emily!)

LAST, BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST,
33. Set alarms & clocks ahead an hour- this one is probably the most important one! If you plan to do a bunch of time-consuming pranks, DO THIS FIRST!!! You don't have to do it to all the clocks, just the alarm or cell phone, and the bathroom/bedroom ones they see first.

Click Here and Here for more fun prank ideas! Note- This list will probably keep getting longer and longer as I come up with new pranks and update!

April Fool's Day- SCARY and MAGIC/SCIENCE EXPERIMENT PRANKS

*For the hard-core prankster*
Scary pranks
1. Let your significant other wake up to you wearing a scary mask, looking directly over them! You could also have a friend come to your house very early in the morning and climb into your bed next to your sleeping significant other. Your partner will wake up and see a "stranger's" face.


2. Ghostly Sounds- fill a cup to the brim with dried peas, and add water. Then place the cup on a metal tray, place the tray on top of a book, and hide it under the victim's bed. During the night, the peas will expand and slowly one by one fall onto the tray. Your victim will think it's a ghost tapping!


3. Baby monitor fun- Leave one under the couch (or where ever victim will be). Excuse yourself to use the bathroom. Speak into base to scare your victim! This works best if you happen to be watching an intense show/movie!
4. Remote Location- stand outside a window while the victim is watching television, and use a universal remote control to change channels, adjust the volume, etc.
5. Toothless- put a Tic Tac and some fake blood/strawberry jam/ ketchup in your mouth, pretend to trip and fall, and then spit your "tooth" out!

Magic trick/ science experiment pranks

1. Hold Up- tell your victim that you are going to show them a magic trick. Show them a plastic cup filled with water and ask them to give you a quarter. Place the quarter in the cup (note: the quarter is just to fool them into thinking it's a magic trick). Then climb on a chair and put the cup on the ceiling (with the rim touching the ceiling). Take a broom and put it on the bottom of the cup to hold it in place. Ask the victim to hold the broom for a minute while you climb down from the chair. Then grab the chair and leave the room...leaving them stuck with no way to get free.

2. Dirty quarter down the nose roll/funnel in the pants prank- before you begin, practice the following trick: place a coin on your head, hold your arms straight out to your sides, and drop the coin into a funnel that is inserted into the beltline of your pants. Once you can do this well, find the victim and tell him you learned a trick that is very difficult to master. Perform the trick. Most likely the victim will ask to try it themselves. Right before they drop the coin, take a glass of ice-cold water that you have placed nearby and pour it into the funnel.

3. Science Experiment- put a hunk of butter on a plate and let it soften. Then tell your victim that you learned an amazing science experiment in school: salt poured on butter will create heat. To demonstrate, pour some salt on the butter, hold your hand over, and pretend you are feeling the heat. As soon as they try it, slam their hand down in the butter. Bonus points if you hide all the napkins!

4. I just saw these on Steve Spangler and had to add them to my list. One prank with a water bottle, and another with plastic cups. Here's the video.

Click Here for more fun pranks!

April Fool's Day- GROSS PRANKS

Gross pranks
1. Toothpaste- Fill the toothpaste tip with mustard, or you could seal it with glue and poke holes on the tube so when victim squeezes, it oozes everywhere!

2. Toilet messages- Write a funny message on a piece of tiolet paper and float in toilet.

3. Put a little paint or ink on your finger and pretend to wipe a smudge off someone's face... leaving a mark instead.
4. Wet sneeze- get your hands wet and pretend to sneeze while flicking your hand toward someone.
5. Clear dish soap in toilet bowl. It's FILLS with bubbles when they use it!
6. Bad Aim- add some yellow food coloring to water, and sprinkle it liberally all over the toilet seat and on the floor around the toilet. The victim will think someone has terrible aim!
7. Brown Surprise- smear chocolate pudding on the toilet seat and wait for your victim's horrified reaction!
8. For this prank, there needs to be a bathroom within hearing distance of your victim. Hide a large container of water inside the bathroom. Wait for a quiet moment when the victim is nearby, and then excuse yourself. Then very slowly pour the water into the toilet--make sure it takes as long as possible. The victim will be amazed!
9. Lawn Surprise- take a brownie and form it to look like dog poo. Place it on the grass of the victim's yard. As you and victim pass by, point it out to the victim, bend over and examine it. Then grab it and put it into your mouth. The victim will get a momentary shock until they figure out they've been tricked.

10. Make your family some kitty litter brownie dessert! It's just Squished and molded brownie sitting in chopped nuts. This seriously looks DisGUSTing!
Click Here for more fun pranks!

April Fool's Day- WORK and VEHICLE PRANKS

Work pranks
1. Print and tape Push & Pull door signs on the wrong doors.

2. Find a spool of thread that matches your shirt and hide it in your pocket. Leave a length of thread hanging out. Your victim will see it and try to pull it out. It will keep coming and coming!

3. Use the glass "shade" from a tea candle lamp--the kind that is shaped like a bowl with a hole in the bottom (or just cut a hole in a plastic bowl). Place it on the victim's desk and fill it with small candies. You can put a floral card holder in it with a nice note attached. When they lift the bowl, the jelly beans will pour out through the hole in the bottom and go all over the place.

4. Computer mouse prank- place tape under mouse sensor.


Vehicle pranks
1. Tape a strong magnet onto the bottom of a drink mug and stick on the top of your car. Drive around and laugh at the people trying to get your attention!

2. Cranked up! Get into victim's car while they're away, turn winshield wipers on, crank up the music tuned to some loud & annoying station you know they'll hate, bring the seat in, turn AC on full blast, you get the picture.
3. Stuff some jeans and create fake legs with shoes attached. Shut your trunk with them hanging out! You'll definitely turn some heads!
4. Put some bubble wrap (the kind with the BIG bubbles in it) in front of or behind the tires of the victim's car. When they back out of their parking space a large pop will be heard, and then he/she will wonder what they hit.
5. Graffiti Fraud- Cover the hood of your victim's car with plastic wrap, tucking the edges under the hood so it's invisible. Then paint graffiti on the plastic with acrylic paints. Hide nearby so you can see your victim's face when they see the "damage."

6. Animal Cruelty- Attach an old leash to the back bumper of the victim's car. Attach a collar to the leash so it drags on the ground. If you want you can put the collar around a stuffed animal. Hopefully, you can ride along and watch the reaction of the other drivers on the road!
Click Here for more fun pranks!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

April Fool's Day- FOOD IDEAS

April Fool's Day is one of my FAVORITE HOLIDAYS OF ALL TIME!!!!! Stay tuned, because I'll be posting a LOT more in the next couple of days! For now, here are some fun food ideas!
Breakfast
Colored Cereal-
I do this one just about every year, so my kids expect it. They love it every time, though! Set your table for cereal (before the kids wake up). Put a few drops of food color into bottom of bowl. Fill bowls with cereal. When your family is up to the table, fill (or let them fill) bowls with milk. Watch their faces as their milk changes color! My kids now try to guess who will get what color! So fun!

Ice Krispies-
Fill bowls with cereal, milk, and spoon. Freeze overnight and set out just before they eat. Make sure you have a back-up plan, because they really won't be able to eat it!!!
Fake egg-
Spoon Vanilla yogurt on a plate to look like an eggwhite. Top with an apricot half to look like yolk.

Lunch/Dinner
Mashed potatoes icecream w/ gravy carmel sauce- (Whip your mashed potatoes. These work best if you add cream to make them light & fluffy. Refridgerate overnight and use an icecream scoop to form balls. Top with "carmel": 1 packet of brown gravy + 1 packet of chicken gravy---makes the perfect color.)

Rubber fishing worm in sandwich-
Unwrapped cheese sandwich (You can also use a piece of wax paper cut a little smaller than the bread with the words, "April Fools!" on it.)
Moving food-
Place a strong magnet (you can buy REALLY strong magnets at just about any auto store) on a thin plate. Cover with a napkin and breadsticks. Place another strong magnet under the table directly under plate. When your "prank-ee" reaches for a breadstick, reach under and pull magnet, making the plate move.

Check out this meatloaf cupcake!

Check out this cool Mock Sushi!

Check out this Candy in a Fruit Can!

Drinks
Blue Gatorade glass cleaner-
This one doesn't need much of an explanation and is such a FUN fake-out! Just make sure your glass cleaner container is CLEAN before you fill it!

Jello drinks-
Make and refridgerate jello in drink glasses according to directions & watch your victims try to take a drink!
Can't get a drink-
Poke tiny holes in straw
Buggy Ice-
Freeze little plastic bugs in your ice.

 Dessert
Chocolate-dipped... treat?-
Slice raw onions, potatoes, or carrots to mini chocolate size. Dip in chocolate! Haha! I love this one!

Toothpaste-filled Oreos-
Scrape out cream centers and carefully fill with white toothpaste!
Kitty litter dessert-
Squished and molded brownies sitting in chopped nuts!

Chicken nugget cake bites- Cut pound cake into chicken nugget-sized pieces. Dip in microwaved vanilla frosting and roll in chopped toasted coconut and crushed corn flakes.


Grilled cheese sandwich-
This is really just toasted slices of poundcake filled with orange-colored frosting.

Peas & carrots-
Using green & orange tootsie rolls, roll into balls for peas, and little cubes for carrots.
Decorated styrofoam cake-
This one's kinda mean... unless you have a REAL dessert for AFTER the prank.

Confusing cupcakes-
Check out this and this website for some cute ideas!
Melted Chocolate bar diaper-
Fill a un-used, clean diaper with an un-wrapped chocolate bar (chopped up Snicker's looks awesome) and pop in the microwave for 20+ seconds or until semi-melted. I love this one!

Check here and here for more fun April Fool's Day Recipes! I also got many of these cool ideas from HERE... one of my FAVORITE April Fool's rescources!!! Check it out! They have LOTS more!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

BLT Club Wrap w/ Avacado... yum.

These wraps were a part of our all-green St. Patrick's Day meal. BUT, I highly recommend not waiting for that day to try these!!! They're too yummy and easy, a perfect summer meal! My kids couldn't get enough of them (minus the tomatoes)!

Anything with bacon, avacado, and cream cheese HAS to be good, right?
BLT Club Wrap w/ Avacado

1 package (of 6) green spinach herb tortillas
1 small tub of garden vegetable cream cheese
2 tablespoons of light mayo
1 package of turkey lunchmeat
1 package of ham lunchmeat
12 slices of bacon (cooked)
1 large (or 2 small) avacado(s) sliced
Sliced tomatoes
Romaine lettuce

Combine cream cheese and mayo. Mix until soft and creamy. Spread over 2/3 of each tortilla. Layer lunchmeat on covered portion of tortilla. Top each with 2 slices of bacon and remaining veggies. I sometimes like to add cucumbers and olives, too. Roll tightly starting from filled edge. When you get to the side without cream cheese, lightly spread a little on the edge and roll shut. This will help seal your wrap and keep it from falling apart. Cut each in half on an angle (hehe, it just looks cuter that way).

Yes, this was my super-green plate of food. We had green wraps, green salad (with this Peach Balsamic Vinegarette), guacamole chips, celery, green broco-flower, green grapes, and kiwi. Awesome.

Fruit Rainbow!

This rainbow can be added to just about any treat in a rectangular dish!
I let the kids help me arrange this rainbow on top of this really simple graham cracker dessert. Except I used sugar-free lemon pudding instead of chocolate... and I used instant instead of cooked. Hey, I needed a dessert pronto!

We ate the leftovers the next day for breakfast! Haha! Atleast there was lots of fruit!!!

Got colored marshmallows? Here's an activity for ya!

My kids made these pages for St. Patrick's Day. It was such an easy, fun activity!
You can do this little project with your kids while they're home over the summer! If you're like me, you're constantly looking for something cool to keep them busy!
 First, print this page below:
 Click HERE for a free, printable version.
Next, grab your colored marshmallows.
Finally, you can do one of two things.
1. Use scissors to cut each mallow in half (or tear them) and stick them to page.
2. Let your kids bite the ends off each marshmallow & stick the remaining piece to the page. This is what we did, but I have to warn ya... that was a LOT of sugar they took in!

It ended up being a pretty fun project, though! You could do this with just about any picture! THIS is one of my favorite sites to go to find printable coloring pages! Have fun!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

GREEN Pina Colada Waffles

Top o' the mornin' to ya!
 I know this is more Hawaiian than Irish, but hey, it's GREEN! This breakfast has become a family favorite since I was inspired by my friend, Josh @ joshlovesit.com. I used his recipe HERE for the coconut syrup, except I substituted the buttermilk and coconut oil for a can of coconut milk. I'm sure his version's awesome just as is... I just didn't have those ingredients on hand. Anyway, it's so frickin' yummy!
This would be an INSAAAANE dessert if you topped your waffle with ice cream, pineapple-carmel sauce, coconut shavings, your favorite toasted nuts, and let's not forget the coconut syrup! Oh, my.

Pineapple-Carmel sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 T. butter
Simmer in saucepan until syrupy. Add:
1 can sweetened-condensed milk
1 sliced fresh pineapple (it would be AWESOME if you grilled it first) or 1 lg can
(add green food coloring for St. Patrick's Day!)

Have an awesome day!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Cute, matchy wash cloths/burp rags

 I made these cuties to go with THIS, THIS, and THIS as a baby gift.
They are so EASY and only cost about 30 cents a piece to make!
These are perfect to keep in the pocket of your reversible car seat COVER-IT-ALL.

EASY Bib/Painting smock with pocket

Tada!
 *If you'd like to applique stars on the front, follow THIS tutorial before continuing on (I didn't really applique stars on this bib. I just added them with this editing program to show you what it could look like if you did. I'm a HUGE applique' fan! I just didn't take the time to do it on this bib).

You can buy packages of plain bibs for a bargain.
Start with one and choose a coordinating fabric for pocket.
TO MAKE POCKET, follow step 5 in THIS tutorial.
Not too bad, right? You can also use these as children's painting smocks.
They can keep brushes or other art supplies in their pockets.