I’ve never been a huge fan of April Fools’ Day.
Honestly, it’s not the actual day I have issues with, it’s the constant anxiety I feel living with a bunch of pranksters who treat April 1st like a national holiday.
My number one prankster is seven, and doesn’t completely grasp the concept of punking.
Like most kids her age, my daughter loves to prank unsuspecting victims. While she is somewhat successful at doing so year-round, on April 1st most people are on high alert for pint-sized shysters.
Needless to say, not everyone fell for her April Fools’ tricks. This (and a bad night’s sleep), led to a few mini meltdowns and a fierce determination to concoct even more pranks.
Personally, I think April Fools’ Day should never fall on a weekend. Kids should be with a class full of their peers on National Joke Day. Not only will their pranks be appreciated by people their own age, but they’re also self-contained, so you don’t have to wake-up to find your kid trying to dump the contents of the salt shaker into your sugar container and vice versa. You also don’t have to spend the morning mopping up water dyed with red food coloring, which was supposed to look like Cherry Kool-Aid, but when it didn’t taste the like it, your 3-year-old spat it out in protest.
Who’s laughing now?
Still, kids were not the only ones taking advantage of the date. A number of companies, supposedly run by adults, and not 14-year-old boys, took to the Internet to spread some pretty funny April Fools’ jokes.
One of my “Gotcha!” moments came when I read about an ultra-pretty disposable diaper. Following the success of Huggies denim jean-style diapers and Cynthia Rowley’s printed Pampers; word had it that a mom on Etsy had created a kit, so that parents could bedazzle their kids’ nappies without breaking the bank. The kit supposedly came with self-adhesive rhinestones that looked exactly like Swarovski crystals and a small metal press so you could make sure the bling was secured to the back of your baby’s diaper.
Turns out the BaBeedazzler Kit was as fake as the day is long.
Ditto for the introduction of a violent Hunger Games app for kids six years and up, bacon-flavored teethers for tots, Google’s new “really advanced search,” and… well, the list goes on and on.
Did you get punked on April’s Fools’ Day? How so?