16 Easy & Hilarious April Fool's Day Food Pranks

April Fool’s Day can be a pretty silly day, especially if you have kids. There is nothing a child loves more than thinking they’ve pulled one over on their parents, so if you’re in the mood to help them prank their siblings or your partner or their grandparents, there are tons of ideas out there. But a nice big list of April Fool’s Day food pranks to play — either with your kid or on your kid — is really going to change the game.

But keep in mind, you have to know the reciepient of the prank pretty well. An 18-month-old isn’t going to understand biting into a chocolate candy and getting a mouth full of Brussels sprouts, you know? And if you know your kid would be devastated about being pranked into believing McDonald’s is for dinner but really it’s spaghetti, maybe try another April Fool’s Day food prank.

If your kiddo is excited to prank someone or likes taking a joke though, this list is full of inspiration to make everyone laugh and give you the chance to shout, “April Fool’s!”

April Fool’s Day Breakfast Pranks

Before anybody gets reminded at school or work about April Fool’s Day, try a few of these breakfast pranks. These are pretty easy to pull off, and it’ll give everyone a bit of mischief first thing in the morning.

• Frozen bowl of cereal. Pour this one the night before — your kid’s favorite cereal, some milk, and go ahead and pop a spoon in there before you move it to the freezer. When your kid goes to take a bite, they’ll lift up the entire bowl.
• Make the worst cup of coffee. If your partner drinks coffee or your parents or a friend stop by, greet them with a cup of coffee — but make it the worst cup ever. If they’re into sweet coffee, throw salt in instead. If they’re a fan of iced coffee, give them just a cold cup of coffee from the pot that’s been sitting out all day.
• Make a fake coffee spill. This is a super great one to do for your partner who’s running late for work. Use a piece of wax paper or saran wrap, paint it brown, and set it under a cup on top of their laptop bag or jacket or something so it looks like a whole cup of coffee has been spilled.
• Food coloring cereal. Put a few drops of food coloring in the bottom of a bowl and then pour your kids’ cereal on top. When they pour in the milk, it’ll instantly be colored.
• Brown-Es for breakfast. When your kids come into the kitchen, tell them you’ve got a special surprise for breakfast: brownies! Then pull out a baking dish and have inside of it a bunch of Es cut out of brown construction paper.

April Fool’s Day Dessert & Snack Pranks

When your kiddo comes home from school or it’s mid-afternoon and the novelty of the holiday is starting to wear off already, whip one of these April Fool’s Day food pranks out. These are great for making them a snack or treat, and for getting one over on your partner.

• Brussels sprouts truffles. Cover a Brussels sprout in melted chocolate and sprinkles and set them out on a platter like a bunch of truffles. The first one who takes a bite will be totally grossed out.
• Toothpaste and cream swap. Open up an Oreo, scrape out the cream inside, and do a nice big squirt of toothpaste. Put the cookies back together and wait for someone to take a bite.
• Swap pudding for mayo. This one is so gross, but make a big bowl of “vanilla pudding,” that’s really just straight mayo.
• Potato sundaes. Get a little waffle bowl or cone and pretend like you’re making a sundae — but the ice cream scoop is really just a big dollop of mashed potatoes.
• Frosting deviled eggs. Make deviled eggs, but instead of the yolk mixture, pipe in some buttercream.
• Candy tomatoes. Save some foil candy wrappers and wrap up grape tomatoes to make it look like little chocolate eggs.

April Fool’s Day Lunchbox Pranks

If your child goes to school on April Fool’s Day, pull off an easy lunchbox prank. Just remember to “fix” the prank in the same box, like adding a cookie if you prank them on their dessert.

• Googly eyes. Use a whole pack of googly eyes inside your kid’s lunchbox. Put them on their banana, on the bag with their sandwich inside, on their juice box — make sure all that food is “watching” them.
• Veggie lollipop. Use a lollipop stick and pierce a small veggie, like a floret of raw broccoli or a cherry tomato, and then wrap up in a lollipop wrapper. They’ll think they’re getting a sweet treat and be totally pranked. (But have something actually sweet in there to make amends.)
• Put veggies into fruit snacks. Open up a fruit snack bag and carefully remove the gummies inside. Replace them with something like lima beans or corn and then carefully tape it back up. (Again, have some real fruit snacks in there, too.)

April Fool’s Day Dinner Pranks

It’s the end of the day, everyone’s totally pranked out — do you really have it in you to do one more? Of course you do. These are pretty easy and fun April Fool’s Day dinner pranks that will really end the day on a high note.

• Meatloaf cake. Make a meatloaf in a cake pan and frost with mashed potatoes and layer with ketchup. Everyone will be so excited to get a slice and then realize it’s meatloaf.
• Not-so-Happy Meal. Save a Happy Meal box, but put inside of it the actual dinner you’ve made. This one can obviously be a prank that really disappoints a kid, so maybe pull out an ice cream immediately afterwards.

Happy April Fool’s Day! Don’t forget, even writing “April Fool’s Day” on a banana peel totally counts as a prank if that’s all you have time for. Just enjoy the fun.