How to Play Pranks on Friends

Playing pranks on your friends is a time-honored tradition, and the better the friend, the bigger the prank you can play! A key to pranking your friends is to remember that they are your friends, so you don't want to do anything that will cause any lasting damage to them, be that damage physical or mental. Ideally, a good prank played on friends will cause them to be surprised, and then to laugh a lot.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Decide how much time you have. Simple pranks can be planned and executed in a matter of an hour or two, but the really good pranks may require your target to be away for a long time.

2. Plan your prank and acquire the necessary materials. Whether you're getting 500 balloons, a roll of tinfoil or a few rolls of duct tape, many pranks require you to have certain things, and you don't want to have to go shopping in the middle of setting up the prank.

3. Invent an excuse to keep your friend busy. Most pranks on a friend require access to his possessions or living space, which means you'll have to figure out a way to send him elsewhere for an hour or two. An errand is often a good excuse, whether necessary or unnecessary.

4. Begin work once your friend has gone. Remember that pranks on friends don't have to be complicated to be funny. Using a friend's computer is an easy and effective prank, whether you change her error sound to you screaming at the top of your lungs or replace her desktop wallpaper with a screen shot of her desktop.

5. Ask your mutual friends for help. For more involved pranks, you can seriously cut down on the time required by having a few people work on it together; plus, it makes a great bonding experience. Altering your victim's room in a way that will cause him to be stunned and then laugh when he opens the door can be rewarding, but it is often labor-intensive.

6. Change your victim's room in a significant but nondamaging way. Fill the entire room with inflated balloons, so they will pour out of the room when your victim opens the door. Or wrap each of your victim's possessions individually in tinfoil. Or duct-tape all your victim's furniture to the ceiling.

7. Document your prank to share with others! Most people love to read about a good prank. Take pictures while setting up the prank, and then once the prank is complete, post a link to your results as a comment here.

Tips & Warnings

• Getting video of your victim's reaction can be priceless!
• Don't whip out the camera too early when the prank is about to be revealed--if your victim suspects anything, it will ruin the effect.