13 Pranks to Pull on Your Parents Without Getting in Trouble

For anyone looking for a little humor and relief during this unprecedented time, you’ll be happy to know that April Fools’ Day is coming up! April Fools’ Day is the one day of the year when you can pull pranks and practical jokes on friends, family, and coworkers without backlash.

All you need to do is yell out, “April Fools!” after you pull the prank, and you’re golden.

So, even though it is a holiday dedicated to annoying people, we need to be a little more careful this year about the reactions we may cause.

We’ve compiled a list of the 15 best pranks that are easy and mild to pull on your parents without getting in trouble. Once you let them in on the joke, they’ll be relieved and hopefully laugh along with you.

Make your parents fret about the water quality with this harmless prank. Use a cotton swab to wipe gel food coloring around the rim of the faucet spout, right where the water comes out. Then watch and wait for them to freak out when they fill up their glass. 

This one is pretty delightful actually. Use painter’s tape to attach several wide pieces of plastic wrap across your parent’s bedroom door, and fill the pocket it creates with inflated balloons. When your mom or dad opens their door in the morning, a huge balloon explosion will fall on them. 

This one is semi-risky due to the importance of streaming services, but give it a try anyway! Take the batteries out of every remote in the house to make it impossible to change the channel.

This is a classic TikTok prank and parents never seem to notice! Replace family photos with pictures of complete strangers. Get creative and use celebrities, animals, etc. See how long it takes for your parents to finally notice. 

If you have your own smartphone or tablet, you can really get your parents fooled by pretending your screen has been cracked. You can download images or even find online apps that will make your screen appear like it's broken or shattered. Your parents will totally be relieved when you scream, “April Fools."

Take a pair of toilet paper rolls and put them on top of the lid to make eyes. Then, you take an empty cardboard roll (it can be from toilet paper or paper towels) and stick it between the lid and seat. Finally, you scream out, “THE TOILET IS SMOKING!” and wait for your parents to inevitably come running in a panic. 

Similar to the toilet smoking prank, this one is another play on words prank. Grab some bottles of water and line them up so they are in a line coming out of the bathroom. Then yell, “Water is coming out of the bathroom!” Your mom and dad will be annoyed but happy when they see you were just joking. 

Send your parents a fake text message about something scandalous and then claim you meant to send it to someone else. For example: "I can get you 2 grams for $40." Wait a minute and then send "Sorry, my bad - that message was meant for someone else.” Their reaction should be good.

To keep going with technology/phone pranks for the moment, get your hands on your mom or dad's phone and change the autocorrect settings. Change a word like "no" or "yes." You can make it something totally ridiculous. They will be completely confused.

This one is a hilarious practical joke and will really make your parents laugh by the end. Call their cellphone with your cellphone and tell them that you lost your phone. They’ll be so mad at you for being irresponsible until you make them realize that you’re obviously kidding because you called them on your phone.

Stick googly eyes on everything in the fridge. The eggs are now watching them.

If your parents work from home, this prank is for you. Rearrange the keyboard letters for a little chaos — or just take a screenshot of the desktop and set it as the wallpaper, then hide the icons.

Cut out a realistic-looking silhouette of a bug and tape it inside a lampshade. When they turn on the light—instant chaos.