Yes, I’m immature, I admit. I find it fun to play tricks on my husband just to see his funny and adorable reaction. Not mean, cruel or annoying pranks. Just playful teasing. Still, there have been occasions when I’ve taken it too far or too long and it would have been grounds for divorce. I promised that I would stop but I just can’t help myself and April Fool’s Day is the perfect time to get away with it.

Ground rules of playful pranking
Nothing is less funny than a mean-spirited joke. How can one tell? If the prankster ends up being the only one laughing or if the prank leaves its victim with bad or upsetting feelings, then it’s a bad joke. Don’t do it. Here are other ground rules of playful pranking your spouse:

1. No serious scares. A slight, short-lived jolt to startle is fine, but no heart-stopping frights, please. This would be a bad time to discover that he has a weak heart.
2. No public humiliation. In fact, if you can find humor in humiliating your spouse, you have to ask yourself if you honestly care about him.
3. Once is enough. As in once a year. Marathon pranking gets extremely irritating, and if you find pleasure in irritating him endlessly, you have to ask yourself, again, if you honestly care about his feelings.

Some harmless but funny ideas
Maybe this is where the grown-up in me comes out, but I don’t like messy pranks. Probably because I’d be the one to clean them up. I skip pranks that will cause him to have to change his clothes, delay his work schedule or appear in public with stains and ink. So, cross off the cream pie-in-the-face or drinking from a dyed cup gag from your list. Here are better ideas:
1. Change his cell phone ring to a silly one.
2. Change the language setting on his cell phone to a foreign language.
3. Do the same with his GPS in his car.
4. Replace his belt with an identical belt only two sizes larger or two sizes smaller.
5. Put a fake bug in his sandwich. A classic.
6. Change the garage door opener setting so it opens your neighbor’s instead. (Ask permission first; maybe work in cahoots with your neighbor!)
7. Move his car. Not far away. Just to a different spot so he gets perplexed.
8. Get all of his friends to text him Happy Birthday.
9. Send him this text: “No, my husband will be home.” Unless he’s the jealous type, then don’t go there.
10. Use a universal remote to change the channel from behind him when he watches TV.
11. Put a fake rat in his shoe. Let the long tail stick out.
12. Rig a rubber snake to string and pull it across the walkway as he comes to the door.
13. Replace the filling in Oreo cookies with toothpaste.
14. Upload a picture of him sleeping and set it as his screensaver so he'll see it when his computer goes into sleep mode.
15. Melt some gelatin in a bit of hot water then stir it into his beer (in a beer glass). Let it solidify before offering it to him.
16. Put a pair of slinky undies (not yours) in his car's glove compartment box.
17. Hide behind the door or in the closet and when he comes in the bedroom, jump out and say, “Boo!” Be sure you’re wearing pretty lingerie. Somehow, he’ll be less irritated and will recover more quickly when he sees you in it.

One last word of caution: Beware of payback! If he does get back at you, be a good sport. Then, visit us in the Marriage forum to let us know how your April Fool’s Day trick went.