How to Make Someone Sneeze

Whether you're planning a practical joke or helping a friend fake a common cold, knowing how to make someone sneeze is a valuable skill. Follow these easy steps and learn how you can coax a sneeze each and every time.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Tickle his nose. Use your thumb and index finger to gently squeeze and massage the bridge of his nose near the top of the nostrils. This excites the nerve that makes people sneeze.
2. Tell her to look toward the sun. For some people, bright light and sunshine trigger sneezes, especially when they go from relative darkness into a brightly lit environment.
3. Serve him spicy food. Intense spices, like pepper, can arouse the "sneezing center" in some people's brains, especially if they accidentally inhale a bit of the spice into their nostrils.
4. Pluck her eyebrows. Eyebrow plucking activates a branch of the trigeminal nerve, the nerve that supplies your nasal passages. The same idea applies to pulling nose hairs, though this is an extreme measure.
5. Give him a glass of red wine. The sulfites in an oaky red wine make some people sneeze. If someone wants to fake an illness, wine is the way to go since it may also cause red, itchy eyes, a runny nose and blotchy skin.
6. Send her out into the cold air. Cold air stimulates the nerves in the nostrils, causing sneezes. This is why some people think cold weather causes colds and other illnesses.

Tips & Warnings

• Never give a known allergen to someone who may experience a severe reaction. He may go into anaphylactic shock, which is a life-threatening condition.