the prank
Nature is full of marvelous surprises—shooting stars, glow-in-the-dark fish, and squirting flowers. Squirting flowers? That’s where you come in. You’ll need to practice this prank a few times before you try it on someone. But once you master it, you can use it to create a splash with your nature-loving friends. You can substitute a leaf or a real-looking plastic bug for the flower.
what you need
* A small balloon (about 2 inches across)
* Scissors
* Water
* A small flower
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Cut off the long end of the balloon (the part you blow into) so just the round part is left.
2 At the sink, fill the balloon almost to the top with water.
3 This is the part that takes some practice: Hold your left hand with the palm facing up. Use your right hand to position the balloon under your left hand so the opening pokes up between two fingers. Press the two fingers together to grip the opening of the balloon. The rest of the balloon should hang down below your hand.
4 Place the flower on the open palm of your left hand. Then hold the water-filled part of the balloon gently with your right hand. (No one should be able to see the balloon; they should see just your open palm and the flower.)
PULL THE PRANK
1 Hold out your left hand with the flower and say to your victim, “Hey, I found this flower that has a really cool little insect on it. Don’t touch it, but look at it. You have to get really close. It’s amazing!” Encourage your victim to move in for a good view.
2 When the person’s face is close to the flower, use your right hand to squeeze the hidden balloon. You may need to separate your fingers a little to let the water through. Your victim will get a surprise shower—from a flower!
the prank
If you have a friend who appreciates a good gross-out, try this variation of the Flower Shower prank. A squirting blister definitely beats a squirting flower on the disgustingness scale.
what you need
* A small balloon (about 2 inches across)
* Scissors
* Water
* A small bandage
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Follow steps 1–3 of the Flower Shower prank on page 65.
2 Place a small bandage on your palm. Then hold the water-filled part of the balloon gently with your right hand. (No one should be able to see the balloon, just your open palm and the bandage.)
PULL THE PRANK
1 Hold out your left hand with the bandage and say to your victim, “I have this really weird blister on my hand. Take a look, it’s right next to the bandage. It’s kind of hard to see.”
2 When they’re in good and close, squeeze the balloon and say something like, “Oh, man, I think it just popped. I hope it didn’t get in your eye!”
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKS
V.I.P.
A Sudden Shower
When Prince Markus Sittikus of Austria built Hellbrunn Palace in the 1600s, he created a palace of pranks. He hid sprayers in statues throughout the gardens. When his guests took a stroll around the grounds, they got drenched with water. A long stone dinner table set out in the garden was surrounded by ten stools: nine of them had secret water nozzles in their seats. The prince, of course, always took the dry one. Today the palace is a tourist attraction—and the sprayers still work. So if you end up visiting, bring an umbrella!
That’s one tricked-out table!
the prank
Evergreens, maples, rhododendrons—all are beautiful trees and shrubs, but unfortunately none of them grows edible fruit. Until now, that is! Make your parents think they never quite grasped where fruit comes from with this juicy prank.
what you need
* 5 to 10 pieces of one kind of fruit (bananas, oranges, apples, strawberries, etc.)
* A large bush or a small tree that doesn’t normally grow edible fruit
* String and/or tape
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Choose your tree or shrub and the type of fruit you want it to “grow.” Make sure to take weight into account—meaning, don’t tie oranges to a bush with flimsy branches.
2 When no one is watching, attach the fruit to the bush or tree using the string or tape. For heavier fruits without stems, like oranges, tie pieces of string around the middle of the fruit (the “equator”) and knot them tightly. Add a piece of tape if necessary.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Wait for someone to notice the miracle of nature. You may need to direct their attention to the plant by saying something like, “Wow, that tree is finally producing some fruit!”
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKS
V.I.P.
Orange You Amazed?!
The inspiration for the Fruit of the Loony trick comes from a prank created by a cartoonist named Frank Adams in 1950. Adams lived in California, and the National Orange Show had just taken place in San Bernardino. One night, Adams got his friends to help him attach 50,000 oranges left over from the show to the pine trees along the Rim of the World Highway. The next morning, drivers were astonished to see that these noncitrus trees had magically produced a crop of delicious-looking oranges!
Are you pining for an orange?
the prank
The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team is known for its fancy footwork on the field. But in 2010, defender Heather Mitts pulled a fast one off the field with a prank known as the Funnel Game. Mitts and her co-conspirator, forward Natasha Kai, walked up to another teammate and asked if she wanted to play a new game. After showing their victim how it is played—you try to get a quarter resting on your closed eyelid into a funnel strategically placed inside the waistband of your pants—Mitts and Kai challenged her to try it. As soon as she closed her eyes, they poured water in the funnel—and down her pants. Try it on your “teammates.” They might not think it’s a winner, but you will!
BEWARE!
This prank may cause a mess. Be prepared to clean Up!
what you need
* A plastic funnel
* A quarter
* A bottle of water
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Practice on a co-conspirator first to get the timing right. Then find a friend or sibling who’s always up for a random game. It’s best to pull the prank outdoors so you won’t have to clean up the mess.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Approach your friend with the funnel and quarter. Make sure you have a bottle of water with you, but don’t draw attention to it. Tell your friend that you learned a new game and get her to agree to play.
2 Explain the rules:
* Tell her to put the plastic funnel, narrow-end first, in the waistband of her pants.
* Next, tell her to close her eyes, tip her head back to face the sky, and put the quarter on her right eyelid.
* Then, tell her to tilt her head down, trying to get the quarter to fall in the funnel.
3 As soon as your victim closes her eyes and tips her head back, pour the bottle of water into the funnel.
4 RUN!
the prank
When little kids get a present they don’t like, it’s easy to tell: They start opening another present right away—or begin wailing because they wanted a new video game, not a book about the history of the vacuum cleaner. Grown-ups are different. They’re trained to be polite. They say things like, “Well, this certainly looks interesting!” or “How did you ever come up with this idea?!” That’s why you should pull this prank on a grown-up—parents, aunts or uncles, or grandparents. Do this prank when it’s your victim’s birthday or during a holiday like Christmas or Hanukkah that involves gifts. And remember the most important part: Make sure you keep a straight face! The second most important part? Getting your victim a real gift, too.
what you need
* A really stupid gift (more about that to follow)
* Wrapping paper
; * Scissors
* Tape
* A card
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Before a holiday or your victim’s birthday, search your house for a gift that the person would never want. Here are some ideas to get you in the spirit:
* For your grandmother: an action figure or a used paintbrush
* For your grandfather: a frilly umbrella or a half-empty bottle of shampoo
* For your mother or aunt: a bottle of after-shave or slightly used men’s shoes
* For your father or uncle: a stuffed animal or a box of crayons
* For anyone: a potato, a roll of paper towels, an empty plastic water bottle, one elastic hair tie, a toothbrush, or a tube of toothpaste
* If you can’t find something at home, and you don’t mind spending a little money, go to a store that sells cheap stuff and buy something completely ridiculous.
2 Wrap up the gift and add a ribbon if you have one.
3 Write your name on the card so your victim knows it’s from you.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Present your gift to your victim at the appropriate occasion. When the person opens the gift, you must keep a straight face. Try to look sincere and pleased, like you picked out something very special. You can even say in a hopeful voice, “Do you like it?” if you can manage it without cracking up.
2 Before the disappointment really sinks in, give your victim their actual gift.
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKS
V.I.P.
Loony Clooney
If you are a pro at pranking, like actor George Clooney, you can keep a gift gag ruse going for a long time. Clooney once noticed a crummy old painting in a pile of garbage. He took the artwork home, cleaned it off, and signed his name at the bottom so it looked like he was the artist. Then he gave it to a good friend as a present. His friend put the painting on his wall to be polite, and it ended up staying there for two years before Clooney finally confessed to the hoax.
Gags for Sale
In 1904 a young man named Søren Sørensen was working as a dye salesman in New Jersey. His company had a problem: An ingredient in their dye gave people sneezing fits. But Sørensen didn’t see a problem—he saw an opportunity. He tested some of the powder on a group of his friends, and soon they were all sneezing—and laughing. They asked for their own supplies to use on their friends. Sørensen quickly started bottling the powder and selling it as a prank under the name Cachoo Sneeze Powder. People loved it. In the first year, he sold 150,000 bottles—which gave him the money he needed to make other gags. He changed his name to Soren Sorensen Adams, and his new company, S. S. Adams, started supplying itching powder, snake-in-a-can pranks, and the bestselling Dribble Glass (that caused victims to spill their drink all over their shirt) to pranksters across the country. In 1928 he invented the Joy Buzzer, a tiny wind-up buzzer you hold in the palm of your hand and use to shock someone when you shake hands. It was a huge seller back then—and still is today.
During his long career, Adams invented more than 600 gags. He said his approach was to work with “an ordinary, everyday object, which is around the house.” The company Adams founded still sells many of his ingenious inventions, and some of them inspired pranks in this book. You can make your own version of the Dribble Glass with a soda can (page 48), fake dog poop (page 52), a prank ice cube (page 90), and fake vomit (page 164).
Cartoonist Louis M. Glackens created illustrations for many of the S. S. Adams Company’s novelties, giving the buyer an idea of how the gag played out.
the prank
Imagine looking out your window one snowy morning and seeing a GIANT footprint in the white-carpeted yard. You might be so freaked out that you crawl back under the covers and stay there! If you live where it snows, this prank is the perfect way to shock your family and your neighbors after a storm. If you don’t live where it snows, try this prank at the beach using wet sand. All it takes is a little planning, imagination, and a shovel to get one rather large footprint.
what you need
* A pencil and paper
* A shovel
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Make a drawing of what you want the footprint to look like. Or wet the sole of a boot or sneaker and press it down on a piece of paper to create a print you can use as a guide.
2 Wait for a snowy day (or a day at the beach) and a time of day when there won’t be many people around to see what you’re up to.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Use the shovel to create the shape of one or more oversize footprints in the snow (or sand). Look at your drawing and visualize a bigger version of the footprint.
2 When you’re finished making the oversize prints, get rid of your own tiny footprints. Start at the top of the giant footprint (farthest from the door to your house) and lightly rake your shovel over your footprints.
3 Act completely astonished when someone notices the giant print. If you pulled this prank in the snow, tell your little sibling that a Yeti must have passed through. If you pulled this prank at the beach, tell your little sibling that the Loch Ness monster must have walked out of the water wearing boots.
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKS
V.I.P.
The Original Giant Step
When a foot of snow fell in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2010, Nial Smith didn’t build a snowman in his backyard like everyone else did. He created what looked like the footprint of a boot-wearing giant. He made a sketch of the shape he wanted, and one hour later, the footprint filled his yard. When his neighbors looked out their windows, they probably thought it was time to leave town.
Nial Smith’s fancy footwork.
the prank
Try this prank on October 31 and put the trick back into trick or treat. Choose a victim who no longer believes in monsters under the bed. In other words, don’t try this prank on a little sibling who still does a running leap into bed every night to avoid whatever lurks below.
what you need
* A pair of jeans
* Towels, T-shirts, or other clothing that can get wrinkled, for stuffing
* Old newspapers or packing material
* Socks
* Shoes
* Safety pins
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Stuff the jeans with the towels or clothing. Move the stuffing around until it looks like there’s a body inside the jeans.
2 Stuff the socks with newspaper or packing material so they look like someone’s feet and ankles.
3 Put the shoes on the “feet,” and tie the laces if necessary.
4 Your fake body is almost done. Just attach the “feet” to the pants legs using the safety pins. Arrange it so the pins don’t show.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Place the “severed body” under the bed so the legs stick out enough to scare the pants off your victim.
2 When you hear the person scream, run in and scream yourself, as if you’re seeing the body for the first time. Then you should probably show your victim some mercy by shouting “Happy Halloween!”
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKS
V.I.P.
Hanging on for Dear Life
The Christmas decorations on a house in Kansas City, Missouri, caused several near-accidents in November 2009, but it wasn’t because the lights were extra-beautiful. As a joke, Kerry Scanlon hung a dummy body from the edge of the roof so it looked like a ladder had slipped out from under him while he was putting up lights. The dummy appeared to be hanging on to the edge of the roof for dear life. In fact, several people called 911 to report the dire situation, and one woman grabbed the ladder and climbed to the top to try to save the guy before she realized he wasn’t real. The homeowner had to take the dummy down after a couple of days because people kept screeching to a stop and even driving up onto his lawn. But he said most of his “victims” loved the prank.
Hang on just a minute!
the prank
Halloween is the perfect time to pull pranks t
hat have a creepy edge. If someone in your family takes especially long and steamy showers, this prank is perfect for him or her—especially if you pull it on the scariest day of the year. With nothing more than lemon juice and a cotton swab, you can make a ghostly message appear in the bathroom mirror while your victim is showering away.
what you need
* A cotton swab or cotton ball
* Lemon juice
what you do
THE SETUP
1 First decide what message you want to appear on the mirror. Shorter is better: HELP! or WATCH OUT! or I SEE YOU or I WANT YOUR BLOOD! are all good. Or just write the name of someone in the family.
2 Now dip the cotton swab (or a small piece of the cotton ball) in the lemon juice. Squeeze out the excess juice so it won’t drip when you write. Then use the cotton to write your message on the mirror in big letters.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Wait for your victim to take a shower and steam up the bathroom. When the person looks in the mirror, your ghostly message will be waiting there.
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKS
V.I.P.
Zombie Alert!
Commuters in Austin, Texas, probably thought they were still in bed dreaming when they read the electronic signs at a busy intersection one Monday morning in 2009. ZOMBIES AHEAD! said one sign. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! warned another. Pranksters had hacked the computers in the signs and changed the message from CONSTRUCTION AHEAD to the zombie alert. The new messages didn’t last for long, though: A construction manager saw the signs on his way to work and quickly had them changed back.
Sign of zombies in Austin, Texas.
the prank
Your parents probably like it when you do your homework instead of playing video games (or pulling pranks). They might even like it when you ask them for help. But after they’ve tried to solve these infuriatingly impossible math problems, they may want to take a nice, long break from homework assignments.
Pranklopedia Page 5