Harmless office pranks, each with a rollback plan
Pick a place, and you get an office prank filed as a change request, with its plan and its rollback plan. If it needs a fake screen, one click opens it.
All 46 harmless office pranks, by where they happen
Desk pranks
- The sticky note monitor
While they're at lunch, cover their switched-off monitor and its frame in sticky notes. Write a work phrase on every tenth one.
Undo: They peel them off in a minute. Leave them the pads.
- The out of office mouse
Stick the tape over the light under their mouse and write "Out of office" on it.
Undo: The tape peels off clean, and they know where to look by the second click.
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- Googly eyes on everything
Give their stapler, mug, plant pot, keyboard and monitor a pair each.
Undo: The eyes peel off. Most people keep the stapler's.
- The gift-wrapped desk
Wrap each thing on their desk on its own: stapler, mouse, mug, phone stand.
Undo: Help them unwrap, and recycle the paper together.
- The balloon desk
Fill the space under and around their desk with balloons before they arrive.
Undo: Hand the balloons out around the floor. Nobody pops them near a desk.
- The tiny promotion
Put a name plate on their desk with their name and a new title, such as Chief Stapler Officer.
Undo: Nothing to undo. They keep the title.
- Employee of the minute
Pin a ribbon to their chair and leave a certificate on the desk for Employee of the Minute.
Undo: They keep both. Award a new minute every hour.
- The 2099 return date
Stand a sign on their desk that says they're out of office until January 3, 2099.
Undo: Take the sign down, or leave it up as a goal.
- The stapler in Jell-O
Set the cheap stapler in a bowl of gelatin and put it on their desk. Their own stapler waits in your drawer.
Undo: Hand back their real stapler. Nobody eats the gelatin.
- The desk invasion
Line the figures up across their desk in formation, all facing the keyboard.
Undo: Sweep them back into the bag in a minute.
- The debugging consultant
Put a rubber duck on a developer's monitor with a note saying it's the new debugging consultant.
Undo: None needed. The duck tends to stay.
- The plant on a schedule
Move their plant two inches toward the window every morning for a week.
Undo: Put it back on Friday and confess.
- The reserved desk
On an office day, put a sign on their usual desk saying it's reserved for leadership.
Undo: Turn the sign around before they sit down. The back says it's reserved for them.
Kitchen pranks
- The vegetable doughnut box
Leave the doughnut box out with the vegetables inside. Hide the real doughnuts in the fridge.
Undo: Open the fridge at the first groan.
- Googly eyes in the fridge
Give every carton, jar and lunch box in the fridge a pair of eyes. Packaging only, never the food.
Undo: The eyes peel off the packaging.
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- The fridge promotion
Pin a memo to the fridge announcing its promotion to Head of Cold Storage, with a reporting line.
Undo: Take the memo down before you go home.
- Job titles on the mugs
Label every mug in the cabinet with a made-up job title, so everyone drinks as someone more senior.
Undo: The labels peel off in the dishwasher queue.
- The policy-grade kitchen sign
Swap the wash-your-mug sign for a two-page policy on mug hygiene, with a version number.
Undo: Put the old sign back the next morning.
- The cookie tin surprise
Leave the cookie tin out with a sewing kit inside. The real cookies sit beside the kettle.
Undo: Point at the kettle.
- The coffee tasting
Pour one pot of coffee into three, label them single origin, house blend and limited reserve, and run a blind tasting.
Undo: Reveal it's all one pot once the scores are in.
- The artisan water
Label the water cooler as artisan water, single source, notes of tap.
Undo: Peel the label off.
Pranks with a fake screen
- The 99% update before you present
When it's your turn to present, put the fake update screen on full screen and say it shouldn't be long. It sits at 99%.
Undo: Press Esc and present.
- The crash for the IT desk
Run the fake blue screen and ask the coworker who fixes everything to take a quick look.
Undo: Press Esc within thirty seconds and buy them a coffee.
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- The classic crash
Put the classic blue screen on the room's screen five minutes before your own team's meeting starts.
Undo: Press Esc as people sit down.
- The hacker in the coffee line
Open the fake coding screen in the kitchen and type furiously whenever someone walks past.
Undo: Close the lid.
- The budget that types itself
Before your budget meeting, put the fake spreadsheet on the screen. Every key press adds a figure, so the totals creep up as people arrive.
Undo: Press Esc and open the real numbers.
- The meeting that never ends
When someone walks over with a quick question, have the fake meeting on full screen and mouth "sorry, on a call".
Undo: Press Esc and answer the question.
- The update on the kitchen screen
Put the Mac-style fake update on the kitchen screen before lunch, with about three hours remaining.
Undo: Press Esc after lunch, before anyone files a ticket.
Video call pranks
- The frozen frame
Mid-sentence on a casual team call, hold perfectly still for twenty seconds, mouth half open.
Undo: Carry on with "as I was saying".
- Everyone in one room
Agree a virtual background with the team: the same meeting room for everyone but the host.
Undo: Switch backgrounds off when the host notices.
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- The call of Daves
Before the host joins, everyone renames themselves to the same first name.
Undo: Rename back after the first "Dave, go ahead".
- The hearing check
At the start of the call, each person asks "can you hear me" in turn, for a full minute.
Undo: Start the agenda.
- All hands up
When the host asks if there are questions, everyone raises their hand at once, then lowers it.
Undo: Somebody asks a real question.
- The email agenda
At the start of your own meeting, share a slide whose only agenda item is "This could have been an email", then end the call.
Undo: Send the email.
Pranks for the whole team
- Musical desks
On a hot desk day, the whole team moves one desk along before the target arrives, and acts normal.
Undo: Everyone moves back by ten.
- The welcome back applause
When someone walks in from vacation, the floor stands and applauds all the way to their desk.
Undo: Sit down and hand them a coffee.
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- The missing person posters
Put up posters with their name, last seen near the out-of-office, the week they're back from leave.
Undo: They take the posters down and keep one.
- Jargon only
For one stand-up, everyone speaks only in corporate jargon. Whoever says something plain buys the coffee.
Undo: Plain English after lunch.
- The matching color day
Everyone wears the same color without telling the target, with a sticker in that color waiting on their desk so they can join.
Undo: They put the sticker on.
- Plants with job titles
Tag every plant on the floor with a LinkedIn-style title, such as Head of Photosynthesis.
Undo: The tags slip off.
- The paper chain countdown
Hang a paper chain over their desk with one link for every working day until their vacation.
Undo: They tear off a link each day, which is the point.
- Friday on a Wednesday
All day Wednesday, the team wishes each other a good weekend.
Undo: Thursday comes.
- The mandatory fun invite
Send the team an invite called Mandatory alignment session for 4:30 pm. It's cake.
Undo: Cut the cake.
- The tiny door
Stick a tiny door at the foot of the wall by their desk, with a sign that says Facilities.
Undo: The sticker peels off.
- The motivational poster
Hang a poster over their desk of a goldfish in a bowl and the word SYNERGY.
Undo: It comes down with the tape.
- Bingo at the all-hands
Hand out jargon bingo cards to the team before the all-hands, and keep a straight face.
Undo: Collect the cards before the Q&A.
The rules for a harmless office prank
It comes off in a minute
Every prank here has a rollback plan. Tape peels off, googly eyes unstick, and the stapler comes back out of your drawer. If you can’t undo it before the target’s next meeting, pick another.
Hands off food, computers and inboxes
Never touch anyone’s food or drink. Stay off a coworker’s logged-in computer or phone, because anything you do there goes out in their name. A fake email from HR or IT looks like phishing, so leave phishing tests to IT. If you want fake emails, play Phish or IT, where spotting them is the game.
Know who you’re pranking
44% of Americans find April Fools’ pranks amusing and 41% find them annoying, so pick a target who pranks back. Leave out new hires and interns, who don’t know yet who’s joking.
Someone’s last afternoon is fair game once their card is full of farewell messages. An office award with a grand title is a prank they get to keep.
Prank the job, never the person
Tease the jargon, the reorg, the all-hands and the meeting that could have been an email. A memo promoting the fridge to Head of Cold Storage mocks the org chart, and the fridge won’t mind. Leave anyone’s looks, age, background and family out of it.
Pranks with a fake screen
Which screen for which prank
The fake screens are the easiest pranks to undo, because Esc takes them out of full screen. Put the fake update screen up just before you present. It stalls at 99%. The fake blue screen crashes on cue, in a modern style or a 1990s one. Start it, then call over the coworker who fixes everything.
Use your own screen
Run them on your own laptop or a meeting room screen you’ve booked. Never use a coworker’s computer, which is logged in as them.
April Fools at the office
What works on April 1
On April 1, team pranks beat pranks on one person, since nobody gets singled out. Try a jargon-only stand-up. On a call, everyone takes the same name and the same funny Zoom background. Set it up the evening before, open the meeting with a silly icebreaker question, and own up by lunch.
The stapler in Jell-O
The stapler set in Jell-O has been on TV twice. It was in the UK original of The Office, and the US version repeated it word for word in its first episode. Hide your coworker’s real stapler, then set a cheap one of your own in Jell-O. Give the real one back the same day.
Questions about office pranks
What are some harmless office pranks?
Googly eyes on everything on a coworker's desk, a monitor covered in sticky notes, or a doughnut box of carrots and celery with the real doughnuts in the fridge. Each comes off in a minute, and nobody's lunch or work gets touched.
What are easy last-minute office pranks?
Tape a note over the light under someone's mouse, or get everyone on a call to take the same first name. When it's your turn to present, run the fake update screen on your laptop. Each takes a minute or two.
What pranks did Jim play on Dwight?
In the first episode of the US version, Jim set Dwight's stapler in Jell-O, and in season 3 he came to work dressed as Dwight, glasses and all. The costume comes off in a minute, so it passes our rollback rule. For the Jell-O, set a cheap stapler and return the real one before the day ends.
What are good April Fools pranks for work?
Pranks the whole team can join, like a matching color day, a jargon-only stand-up, or an invite called Mandatory alignment session that turns out to be cake. Set up the night before and own up by lunch.
Is it OK to prank your boss?
If they joke with the team, a light one is fine, like a name plate with a grand title or googly eyes on their stapler. Skip anything that touches their computer, their calendar or a meeting with their own boss.
What pranks should you never do at work?
Never touch someone else's food or drink, or a coworker's logged-in computer or phone. Skip fake emails from HR or IT, fake layoff news, alarms and anything that breaks or costs money. Never prank a new hire, who can't tell yet who's joking.