For as long as I can remember, April Fool’s Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. As a child, my younger brother and I would compete to see who could come up with the funniest and most outlandish prank. My mind is jammed packed full of April Fool’s memories: resealed canned good with plastic bugs inside. Rubber snakes falling from doorways and lurking under blankets. Whoopee cushions under couch cushions. The list goes on and on, and it is difficult even now, years later, to not chuckle about some of the crazy pranks we pulled on each other.
However, the April Fool’s Day memories I love to remember the most are those we concocted together. With two masterminds at work, our pranks became even more ingenious and fun. And with each passing year, we looked forward more and more to planning the ultimate April Fool’s joke.
One beautiful spring morning, about 10 years ago, the idea for an amazing April Fool’s Day prank practically fell into our laps. Our family had special ordered some meat from a catalog, and it was delivered that morning packaged in dry ice. From a earlier high school science experiment, we were well aware of the unique chemical reaction that occurs when you place dry ice in water. So we decided to do a little experiment of our own in honor of April Fool’s Day.
My aunt’s parents lived right next door to us at the time. They are good-natured people with wonderful senses of humor. My brother and I decided that they would appreciate the humor in our prank. So, with our one younger cousin in tow, we went to visit my aunt’s parents that April Fool’s afternoon. As our cousin distracted them, my brother and I slipped into their guest bathroom and carefully placed the dry ice into their toilet with tongs. As the dry ice hit the water, the toilet bowl started steaming and the water began bubbling. My brother ran out acting all shocked and concerned, yelling that something was wrong with the plumbing.
My aunt’s parents rushed into the bathroom and tried to determine what was wrong. But no matter what they tried, they couldn’t get the bubbling or steaming to stop. Finally, they called my uncle on the phone and asked him to take a look since he had fixed their plumbing issues in the past. My uncle knew full well that it was all a prank, but he ran right over with his tool belt and pretended to inspect the toilet. Finally, the suspense got to be too much for all of us. My aunt’s mother was getting more flabbergasted by the second and was in a frenzy trying to find a solution. Soon we all found ourselves rolling with laughter, while my aunt’s parents stared at us in disbelief. When I caught my breath, I explained that it had all been a joke, and they had a big laugh over the incident, too. To this day, I can’t remember any of us ever laughing as hard as that April Fool’s Day.
Warning: Please be aware that touching dry ice can burn unprotected skin and placing dry ice near your eyes or mouth can be dangerous. Always handle dry ice with caution and never leave dry ice around young children and pets.
