April Fools’ Day Food Pranks

Studio 5 Party, Holiday & Ideas Contributor Alisa Bangerter lists some unique ways you can fool people this year that they won’t soon forget.


Family Fun Magazine and website: www.familyfun.com is a great resource for April Fools’ Day foods. Make sure to check out all their fun items.

Disguise Food

• Sweet Pizza: Flatten a pie crust into a circle on a pizza pan or baking sheet to look like a pizza crust. Bake and let cool. Spread a bright red jelly or jam on the “crust.” Cut red fruit Roll-Ups into circles for “pepperoni,” cut green gumdrops into pieces for “peppers,” cut “olives” from a black stick of licorice and tint coconut yellow/orange to create “cheese.” Sprinkle ingredients on the jelly. Cut into wedges as you would a pizza.

• Faux Pot Pie: http://familyfun.go.com/april-fools-day/april-fools-day-recipes/chicken-not-pie-685614/

• Angel food cake or pound cake when cut into slices and toasted looks very much like toasted bread. Spread them with tinted icing the color of cheese and you have a “sweet” cheese sandwich.

• Fill clear glasses with Jello and a straw and let set up. Place at each setting for dinner and enjoy the laughs when people find they can drink their beverage.

• Coat sugar wafer cookie sticks with peanut butter and roll in crushed cornflakes to make faux fish sticks. Serve with “ketchup” made from red jelly or jam.

• Flattened large marshmallows coated in peanut butter and crushed cornflakes look like chicken nuggets.

• Make veggies out of bright chewy candy such as taffy. You can soften the candy in the microwave if needed and then form into peas, carrots, beans, etc.

• Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream with caramel syrup on a plate to look like mashed potatoes.

• Place mashed potatoes in a sundae glass with brown gravy to look like a caramel sundae.

Make a fake cake

• Bake meatloaf in round cake pans and frost and decorate with mashed potatoes. Serve on a pedestal plate.

• Use actual frosting to ice cornbread baked in cake pans.

• Try the Bangerter family favorite: frost a roll of toilet paper with real icing to look like a cake!

Serve miniature food.

Check out the book Tiny Treats by American Girl that has great ideas for this. Some of my favorites are:

• Yellow m&m candies placed in a dollop of white chocolate to look like eggs.

• Tiny bacon strips made from caramel and tootsie rolls softened in the microwave and pressed together and rolled flat.

• Mini “doughnuts” made by dipping the top of Cheerios in melted chocolate and adding sprinkles.

• A tiny ice cream cone made by using a melon baler to scoop ice cream or flavored cream cheese and placing it on a Bugle chip “cone.”

• Make mini hotdogs by using Little Smokies and buns made from bread dough.

• Stack together several round sandwich cookies and frost to make mini cakes.

Be creative with food coloring.

• Add food coloring to items to alter their appearance. Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, soup, gravy, milk, syrup, etc.

• A few drops of food coloring can be placed in a cup before adding milk or water so when the milk or water is added the liquid changes color. Little kids love this.

• Food coloring works great with a bowl of cereal as well. Add a few drops to the bowl and then add the cereal. When the milk is poured on the milk becomes a different color!

Serve food in unusual dishes.

• Serve dinner on tiny doll dishes.

• Serve in huge dishes such as soup in a mixing bowl and using a platter as a plate and a pitcher as a drinking glass.

• Serve food in dishes for another holiday such as setting the table with Christmas dinnerware.

• Use unusual items to serve in such as new beach pails, baskets, vases, etc. Make sure they are food safe or line them first.

Have fun with simple food pranks.

• Boil several eggs and place back in the egg container in your refrigerator. Ask for scrambled eggs in the morning and watch what happens!

• Freeze juice in glasses. Just before serving place a small amount of fresh beverage on top of the frozen.

• Fill the cookie jar with fruit or other items.

• Serve breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast.

• Serve dessert first and appetizers last.

• Dip cotton balls or bread balls in chocolate. Add a few sprinkles and place in paper liners and give as you would a box of chocolates.

• Turn all the food in the refrigerator or pantry upside down.

• Serve meals at unusual times during the day.

• Switch the inserts in cereal boxes so when your family pours them out they have a different kind of cereal!

• Place sugar in the salt shaker.

• Fill a lunch with everything the same color or unusual food combinations.

• Fill a lunch with plastic food from a toy kitchen. (Make sure to provide the real stuff as well!)

• Make meat loaf cupcakes. Simply bake in foil muffin liners. Can be frosted with mashed potatoes (colored with food coloring) or mashed yams.

• Place a note inside a sandwich.


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