Flawlessly Executed Pranks People Pulled on Their Spouses

When you're in a long-term, committed relationship, it's important to keep things fresh and exciting. There are a lot of ways to keep the spark alive, from regular date nights to random acts of love and kindness. But for some couples, the best approach to keeping each other on their toes is through good-natured pranks and practical jokes. 

It's hard to fault them — studies have even suggested couples who make fun of each other (so long as it's not in a mean-spirited way) have more relationship satisfaction. These spousal pranks support the theory that the family who punks together stays together.

Steve here pulled a genius prank involving the backup camera on his wife's car. He took two dinosaur figures and tethered them with fishing line so they would be in full frame. This way, when his wife puts the car into reverse to maneuver in or out of a parking spot, she'll see two fierce velociraptors engaged in a struggle for dominance. 

I guess love, uh... finds a way. A way to goof on your spouse, that is.

This one is perfect for anyone whose spouse gives them grief about how much online shopping they do. Maureen Pritchard of Green Bay, WI, pulled off a stunt six months in the making on April Fools' Day. She squirreled away Amazon boxes for half a year just so she could prank her husband into thinking she was a shopping addict who had reached her rock bottom. Upon his arrival home from work, he found this mountain of packages at their front door. "What is all that?!?" he asked as he got out of the car. "Six months of saved boxes from us, my parents, and my sister," she replied. 

Kayla used her Photoshop skills to convince her husband that she had mistaken a wild coyote for a friendly stray dog and was letting is sit on the couch with their son. A frantic text fight ensued as he tried to convince his wife that this little lost pupper was potentially dangerous and not at all cute and cuddly. 

A classic prank ideal for couples or roommates: the ol' life-size cardboard cutout in the shower routine. There's a reason this prank is so well-worm: it's effective. Even if you know there's a six-foot tall cutout of Worf from Star Trek: TNG in the house, you will always jump in terror to find him peeking out Psycho style from behind the shower curtain.

This one's perfect for the Silence of the Lambs fan in your life. You just need to have some light Photoshop skills to pull it off — this tutorial is pretty useful, but definitely doesn't seem like something a beginner with the photo-editing software can pull off. Once you have your image constructed, just line a jar with your "pickled head" and fill the container with some gross-colored water to complete the effect. So creepy.

If your partner falls asleep on long car rides, this prank is for you. A husband startled his sleeping wife awake and convinced her this semi-truck was barreling toward them. In reality, it was being towed by a truck ahead of them going the right way. Mean? Absolutely. But also pretty hilarious.

This husband willfully misinterpreted his wife's request fo a Coach handbag for her birthday and had this bag with Craig T. Nelson's visage made custom for the occasion. If you're wondering whether this man is now deceased, don't worry. He had the real thing stowed in the trunk of his car. TBH, seeing this tote I kind of prefer it to anything I've seen from Coach in the last few years.

It's safe to say it's usually not a great idea to prank the bride on your wedding day, whether you're the groom, the best man, or the photographer. But this groom conspired with his wedding photographer and his brother to pull off a prank that didn't pay off until a full year after they were wed. Manda Alexander's husband Vincent presented her with a framed copy of the photo above for their first anniversary, and it was the first time she saw the photobomber on the right. 

Turns out, Vincent had his brother don the creepy clown costume and wield a knife while his new wife was completely unawares. How photographer Megan Bowling was able to keep a straight face is beyond me. Despite hating clowns, Manda loved her gift. Honestly, if someone can keep a secret this good for a full year, that's probably the best proof of commitment you could ask for.

Now this right here might be my favorite prank. It's simple in its execution, plus it shows how much she knows her husband. Ryan's wife knows all he wants to do after a hard day of work is play his favorite game, Fallout 4. Sure, he has a shelf full of games, but this is the title he was really into at the time. She decides to play Jigsaw and torture him from a distance by hiding his game and leaving this creepy note. But there's more...

Instead of just hiding his favorite toy, she sends him on a scavenger hunt to find it. She paraphrases a movie quote that leads Ryan to his next destination: a Blu-Ray copy of The Goonies. (The actual quote is "you schmuck! Did you Really Think I would be stupid enough to kill myself?")

So, is the game in the case for The Goonies?

Then, she had to bank on her husband remembering a little quote from the movie Beetlejuice, where the recently deceased Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis are trying to figure out how to haunt the new occupants of their home with a guide that looks a lot like the one in the middle panel of the triptych above. Clearly, she was right. He found the Handbook for the Recently Deceased where, at long last, his precious Fallout 4 disc rested. 

"My wife thinks she's clever," he titled the post on imgur, but you can tell he's secretly impressed. Why else would he document the mad hunt for his game for all to witness?