14 “The Office”-inspired April Fools’ Day pranks you should play on your coworkers
As hard as it might be to believe, April Fools’ Day is almost here. If you’re taking part in the holiday, then you need to come up with some good prank ideas now, rather than the day before or the day of. Preparation is key! And if you’re looking for practical joke inspiration, look no further than The Office‘s April Fools’ Day-style pranks, specifically everything Jim did to Dwight throughout the show’s many seasons. The Office offers so many ideas for pranks you can play on your co-workers, if you’re feeling bold.
While these pranks are all in good fun, you should probably make sure the co-worker you’re pranking has a good sense of humor and is a friend of yours. You don’t want to pull one of these jokes on the wrong person!
This year, you’ll also have to pull these pranks the Monday after April Fools’ Day or the Friday before, since April 1st is on a Sunday. That’s kind of annoying, but the upside is that the person or people you’re pranking will be totally caught off-guard.
If you want to channel Jim Halpert this year, then we’ve got you covered. Check out a few The Office April Fools’ Day prank ideas.
Then get to work pulling them yourself:
1Put their items in a vending machine.
If you’re friendly with the vending machine maintenance people, this joke is worth attempting. Pick a co-worker, then take a bunch of their office supplies and put them in the vending machine. If you want to be really evil, stick their wallet in there too, like Jim did to Dwight. That way, they’ll really have a difficult time getting their items back.
2Dress as and mimic one of your co-workers.
Remember the episode where Jim dresses as Dwight, talks like him, and mimics all of his weird little quirks? It’s amazing! If you’re friends with a co-worker who is very unique or has a very specific look, try this joke. It’s funny and it’s kind of cute… just make sure they know you’re not making fun of them!
3Reposition their desk by moving it one inch throughout the day.
In one early episode of The Office, Jim moves Dwight’s desk by about one inch throughout the day every time Dwight gets up or moves. By the end of the day, the desk is in a different spot than it was in the morning, and because it happened so slowly, Dwight has no idea what’s going on. This is a harmless and very funny prank you can definitely copy.
4Order 15 large pizzas under someone else’s name.
Here’s a prank everyone in your office will probably end up enjoying: pick a co-worker, then order 15 (or more) large pizzas under their name (Jim did this to Dwight in one episode). When the pizzas get delivered and they call that person’s name, they’ll be totally confused and probably kind of embarrassed. But hey, at least everyone gets pizza afterwards!
5Get other co-workers to call one co-worker by a different name all day.
In one episode, Jim calls Dwight “Dwayne” all day, and gets everyone else in on it at as well. If you can get other co-workers to do this with you, pick one poor co-worker to target, and call them by the wrong name all day, acting like it’s no big deal.
6Give someone an Altoid every time you boot up your computer.
Okay, this is a very elaborate prank, and is definitely going to take some time — but if you’re up for it, it’s super interesting.
In one episode, Jim reveals that he’s been conditioning Dwight to expect an Altoid every time he hears Jim’s computer boot up. Every time Jim restarts the computer, he offers Dwight an Altoid — after weeks of this, Jim restarts his computer, and Dwight reaches his hand out, expecting an Altoid, and is totally confused when he doesn’t get one. It’s funny, if you can pull it off.
7Send someone letters from their future self.
This is another prank that will definitely take some time, so you might want to start it before April Fools’ Day. In one episode, Jim reveals that he’s been sending letters to Dwight from future Dwight. This is easy to pull off, but unless your co-worker has the same personality as Dwight, they’ll know they’re being pranked. Still funny though!
8Slowly increase the weight of their telephone throughout the day.
Similar to the desk prank, this one will require you to mess with someone all day long. In one episode, Jim slowly increases the weight of Dwight’s telephone handset by putting nickels in it throughout the day. In the end, he takes all of them out at once so that Dwight hits himself in the face with it. Elaborate, but pretty funny.
9Replace someone’s writing instruments with crayons.
Here’s a more simple idea: Before your co-workers get in, replace all of their pens and pencils with crayons. Hehehe.
10Send someone letters from the CIA.
This is another longer prank, but take a cue from Pam this time. In one episode, it’s revealed that she’s been sending Dwight letters from the CIA, acting like they’re recruiting him. Try doing this to a co-worker… the results will probably be pretty hilarious.
11Put office items in Jell-O.
The most classic prank from The Office is when Jim puts Dwight’s items in Jell-O. You can definitely recreate this one, and everyone will probably find it amusing.
12Put someone’s desk in the bathroom.
In one episode, Jim puts Dwight’s entire desk in the bathroom. Will this be extremely difficult to pull off? Probably, but if you can do it, that’s pretty impressive!
13Create a quad desk.
This is another idea that might be really difficult to pull off, but again, if you can do it, kudos. This is hilarious!
14Convince someone it’s a different day than it is.
This prank is, admittedly, going to be hard to pull off, unless you do it in the middle of the week. In one episode, Dwight mistakenly thinks it’s a different day than it is, and Jim runs with it and convinces him it’s Friday when it’s actually Thursday. Try it out! Who knows? It might work.
Happy pranking!
