Get ready for April Fool's Day

April Fool's Day.

I want to call it the ultimate family holiday.

It's just an opportunity to horse around.

And you PROBABLY won't get in trouble for it.

What could be better than to shake up the daily routine with a few lighthearted pranks?

The roots of April Fool's Day are uncertain.

One theory is that when the Gregorian calendar was adopted, and the Julian calendar was no longer used, those who refused to go along with the change (or those who simply didn't know it had occurred) were called "April Fools."

In France a fool is sometimes called a "poisson d'Avril" (April fish). Pranksters would stick paper fish on a person's back.

In April in France there were an abundance of fish that swam in the rivers and streams. These were young fish that were easily lured and hooked. A person who was gullible to pranks was called a "poisson d'Avril."

Festus Fatuorum (the Feast of Fools) was observed in France. People would elect a "mock pope" and parade around, making fun of church rituals.

In Scotland, a fool is called an "April gowk" or "April cuckoo."

While I was researching the roots of April Fool's Day, I was tempted to just make up a few theories about how it got started... isn't that in keeping with the holiday?

Here are the household April Fool's pranks I have heard of (or been a part of...):

• Filling the sugar bowl with salt.
• Pouring ketchup in the coffee maker's filter before brewing the coffee.
• Attaching a rubber band to the sprayer on the kitchen sink.
• Balancing a small bucket or plastic bowl full of water on the top of a door.
• Changing the clocks to the wrong time.
• Setting alarms for the middle of the night.
• Serving meatloaf cupcakes.
• Putting vanilla pudding in a milk glass.
• Removing all the batteries from the remotes.

Last Friday I went out to The Rondo Community Outreach Library and The Como Zoo to talk to people about how they celebrate April Fool's Day.

My vox pop (an audio collage of people's comments) airs on All Things Considered today.

Maybe we're all a little too tense about our jobs and the economy to celebrate April Fool's Day in the workplace. Creative Group of Menlo Park, California did a survey that found that most executives agree that pranks at work are not a good idea.

But Canada Newswire has a different story.

Evidently workopolis found that 46% of Canadians report that "pranks are accepted or encouraged in their workplace, and another 45% say that humour at work is used to alleviate pressure and control stress." But the Canadian article stresses that "humour gone wrong can hurt you in the long run."

The suggestion is that if you don't know how your coworkers (or your bosses) are going to react, it's better to not do a prank.

Maybe it's better to keep the pranks and the jokes at home.

What do you think?

What do you do for April Fool's Day?

What's the best (or worst) trick that's ever been played on you?

Resources:

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes

Origins of April Fool's Day, from SNOPES

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

Office Pranks for April Fool's Day? They May be no Joking Matter, Survey Says

Half of Canadian Workers Rely on Humour to Alleviate Workplace Stress

Ten Top April Fool's Day Links

"Colorful" (meatloaf!) Cupcakes

Spot the April Fool's Gags

The Guardian Book of April Fool's Day: Martin Wainwright

Writer's Almanac: More April Fool's History

When my kids were little, I took copier paper box tops in February, lined them with plastic and grew grass seed so that the kids could run barefoot thru the grass on the first day of spring, because here in Minnesota we still had a snow-filled yard on March 21st. For St. Pat's day, my towheaded children went to school with green hair. But I NEVER quite mastered the April Fools pranks, if only we'd had these resources, we could have had one more fun holiday to finish off winter. Darn!

Since doing this blog entry and a q/a about April Fool's Day on the radio, I am already looking forward to some good pranks for next year. One of my colleagues here says " I HATE April Fool's Day!" So of course he will be one of my targets....

Nanci