14 College April Fools Pranks

Modified on June 22, 2023

Not all of us have the time or the patience to completely tinfoil someone’s dorm room or sticky note their care.

We don’t all have flash mobs of friends to do something nuts for April Fool’s Day. In this post, we’ve got 14 gags that just about anyone should be able to pull off, and there’s no real budget to speak of. Especially not if two or three people are in on them. Check it out!

1. Get like 80 Poppers And…

Here’s what you do: tape them to their dorm room door from the inside (no scaling any skyscrapers for this). With 100 of these things, the sound will be pretty big; the mess will be lovely; you’ll scare the #$&@ out of them!

2. The Best April Fools for Computer Nerds…EVER!

After browsing the ten billion ideas Google has to offer, this is definitely one of the coolest. You’re basically going to put your head in a jar and then put it in their fridge. Or, you could go with their best friend’s or significant other’s head. All you need is a computer.

3. Does Their Major Require Typing?

Hey, if someone you want to play a prank on does a bunch of typing this is a really good one: rearrange the letters of their keyboard. It’s harmless, easy to do without breaking the keyboard and yeah. Even if they are the fastest and loudest typer in school, it will boggle their mind. You could order the letters to say something perhaps?

4. This is Hardcore

This can get ugly fast, so you need some finesse. If you’ve got a girlfriend/boyfriend, have a stranger they don’t know hand them a handwritten “I’m breaking up with you and dropping out” letter. It helps if the gangs are in on it, but again, while this will definitely get a reaction it might backfire…

5. Nail Polish + Soap

This is an oldy but goody. You just coat their soap with clear nail polish and in the morning when they try to shower it won’t lather, and they’ll be like, “Whu?”

6. Fill the Halls with Fruit

Not on the ground silly, but hanging from clear cords or strings. At least everyone will get their fruits in for the day. You could go with bananas, apples, pears, strawberries, grapes, or even go big with grapefruits.

7. Mouse + Jello

These days a regular computer mouse doesn’t cost but a few bucks. So, go ahead and put their mouse in the middle of a jello mold of your choosing. It should be said that jello is both cheap and amazing. You can get pretty crafty with jello, and just about everyone loves the stuff.

8. Go Pop Star

Just pick a pop star they would love to have plastered all over their stuff and go to town. Bieber is always a favorite. But let your imagination run wild.

9. Pregnancy

This only works on guys that have no clue it’s April Fool’s Day. You know, those guys who only know basically New Year, Spring Break, and Christmas. If they have a girlfriend, oh yeah this will get them good. If they don’t and you know someone they’ve been frisky with in the past that’s willing to play along…even better.

10. Flash Mob Anyone?

Okay fine, no prank or gag list is complete without the theater company involved.

11. The Out of Reach Alarm Clock

Simply put: legendary. Grab their alarm clock while they’re sleeping, and set it to go off an hour earlier in a hidden place that will drive them nuts. If it can be taped to the ceiling out of reach – perfect!

12. The Ultimate Stink Bomb?

Everybody loved a stink bomb. So why not bomb an entire dorm? Why not bomb an entire building? I mean you can get boxes of these things in multiple colors, head into the stairwell and go floor by floor (two people on both sides for ideal coverage). So awesome! And, if you’re major is covert operations you should be able to stealth-mode this, and no one will even know you just pulled a prank that will make the college paper!

13. Dixie Cups for Miles

This is especially cool for anyone that’s a fan of beer pong. You can get hundreds of these things for cheap (make sure to recycle them afterward), fill them only a little bit with water or whatever works, and then chill. You could fill an entire dorm room hallway. You could fill their dorm room. It’s funny.