20 Office Prank Ideas To Use At Work For Fun

Do you see anyone at the workplace who is overworked and needs a dose of humor? Are you seeking any office prank ideas that are fun but won’t harm anyone?

Are you wondering how to prank your colleague at work?

We have prepared a list of pranks you can use to make work fun and frolic.

But, before we delve into the pranky stuff, let’s discuss office pranks, its benefits, limitations, and importance.

Benefits and Importance of Office Pranks

Using healthy and non-offensive humor at work helps to brighten up a regular, dull day at work. It indeed does brings a smile to everyone’s faces.

Practical jokes used by managers and co-workers help boost teamwork and functionality. If you have a team to manage, jokes and pranks are a great and effective way to boost motivation and connect with peers.

Dr. David Abramis has studied “fun at work” for years, and according to him-

“employees who have fun on the job are more creative, more productive, better decision-makers and get along better with co-workers. They also have fewer absentee, late, and sick days than people who aren’t having fun.”

If you want to increase productivity and employee job satisfaction, playing practical jokes can aid in:

• Increase employee engagement
• Increases positivity and eradicates toxicity
• Lessen burnout and stress
• Promotes a fun company culture
• Influences peer bonding
• Allows relaxation and rejuvenation
• Decreases absenteeism

Who knew jokes and pranks could help employees and organizations to function better to achieve success, isn’t it? While stress, toxicity, and work pressure is burdening employees, these fun elements can help them to have a moment of relief and joy. Mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and ADHD are common among working professionals. Such people find it challenging to maintain a balanced relationship in and out of work; thus, using humor at work will help create a cheerful environment and make them feel more comfortable.

How and When to prank your colleagues in the office?

Here, we are talking about the rules while using the office prank ideas. Office pranks sometimes, if done over-the-top or in an unwarranted manner, can surely put you and your job in trouble. So please keep these few points in mind while pranking at the office:

Pranks should involve no anger

The prime motive of office pranks is to have fun, share laughter, and not be vindictive. Your pranks must not involve anger or a sense of revenge. You must practice pranks as a happy exercise and not make anyone angry or offended. If your jokes are a reason for your peers’ angst, you might have to face the consequences.

You must not destroy office property

Well, this is something you must avoid for obvious reasons. Indeed, you wouldn’t want to get slapped with a majestic bill at the end of pranking. As a prankster, you must ensure you do not vandalize office property or desk.

Work must go on

You must ensure while having fun with coworkers, disruption of work or productivity is minimal. You would not want to lose a client while having fun at work, isn’t it? The purpose of office prank is to increase productivity and not affect it adversely.

Refrain from illegal stuff

To put it in simple words, no drugs, no discrimination or personal jokes on race, color, gender, sexuality, caste, etc. no harassment whether sexual, physical, or mental.

Finally, do not cross the line

The last rule is an amalgamation of all of the above limitations. In the name of pranking, please do not cross any line that might hurt any individual’s sentiments.

Keeping everything in mind, let’s begin the fun part of this blog post and get you acquainted with some of the best office pranks.

We believe you need no April Fool Day or Halloween to prank or have some fun at work. Simple pranks, if respectfully executed, helps in making a workplace diverse and inclusive.

So, below we have mentioned our all-time favorite pranks to pull off at work, safely. Have a look!

1. Wrapping Paper

Instead of wrapping gifts, wrap your employee’s desk, office chair, and system with glittering wrapping paper.

Image Courtesy: Blogspot

When they walk-into a cubicle wrapped in a gift, definitely their reaction will make you ROFL!

2. Nicolas Cage Toilet Seat

If you want your colleagues to have laughter in the washroom, Nicolas Cage does the wonder.

Image Courtesy: Reddit

Paste his weirdest and most enthusiastic photo on the toilet seat and let him greet whoever goes for a bathroom break.

3. Fish Drawer

This is a fishy affair! All you need to do is- open the desk drawer of your coworker, empty it, take a plastic wrap, and fill it with water and fish.

Image Courtesy: Imgur

Make sure to feed this prank twice a day!

4. Sticky Notes

Image Courtesy: Hubspot

Decorate your friend's desk or car with sticky notes/post-it. For someone who procrastinates and makes no use of sticky notes, this is a good prank for them. Try it now!

5. Download Chrome Extension

This a funny and lighthearted prank that works every time!

All you need to do is download a chrome extension and replace every image with Nicolas Cage. Horrific, isn’t it? Extensions are easy to install and uninstall; thus, it won’t affect your colleague’s computer.

6. “Freeze” your coworker’s desktop.

Take a screenshot of your coworker’s computer screen and set it as the desktop wallpaper.

Do not forget to hide the folders, shortcuts, and other files present on the desktop. Sit back, relax, and have a hearty laugh with your team!

7. Voice Activated Toaster

LOL! This sounds funny; imagine if practically executed how funny this would look in real life.

Image Courtesy: Tumblr

Just paste a note on the toaster saying, “This toaster is voice-activated.” Who knew office supplies could become a laughing stock for everyone.

8. Keyboard becomes seedboard

Some pranks need sunlight and water to germinate! Take the help of your IT team to plant some seeds on your colleague’s keyboard, and make this prank into a success.

Image Courtesy: Boredpanda

When your colleague notices their keyboard is growing, you can defend yourself by saying- “You said you wanted to spend more time with nature, didn’t you?”

9. Healthy Doughnuts

Surprise your coworkers with a box of assorted doughnuts on their birthday, or rather veggie-nuts.

Image Courtesy: Dailymail

Instead of doughnuts, fill the box with assorted salads and vegetables! Use this prank on someone who is an epicure and not a fan of healthy food.

10. Balloon Cake

Birthdays are celebrated very often at work, and a bit of healthy humor is always encouraged on your colleague’s special day.

Instead of icing a cake, ice a balloon. Let your coworker cut into it and burst out in a splash of buttercream!

11. Celebrity Crushed

If your coworker has ever mentioned their celebrity crush, please make sure to let them know how much you care.

Image Courtesy: Huffpost

All you need to do is, print a few celebrities’ posters and paste it on their entire cubicle. They’ll either get excited or embarrassed! Cute, Isn’t it?

12. Foghorn Entrance

If you have an attention seeker in your office, use this prank on them! A foghorn is the red horn that makes a loud noise like a ship horn.

Imagem Courtesy: Reddit

The second they walk into the meeting room, everyone’s attention is on them, and you can begin the meeting with an alarm!

13. Fake Virus

Viruses, whether corona or computer, irritates everyone. If you plan to prank someone at work who gets easily bugged with things, then you can use this trick on them.

Image Courtesy: Makeuseof

With the help of your IT team, infect your colleague’s system with a fake virus and watch them get annoyed restlessly!

14. Fake Birthday

We all have that one colleague who is kind to everyone and does not want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

Walk up to them, sing happy birthday, surprise them with a delicious cake and ask them to blow the candles. Notice, if your colleague has the heart to say...It isn’t their birthday, and burst out in laughter!

15. Sleeping Beauty

There is always that one colleague who just can’t keep their eyes open after lunch or by late afternoon. This prank works on them wonderfully!

Image Courtesy: Photodune

Wait for your friend to doze-off, and gather as many people as you can. Click random photos with the sleeping beauty. Voila! You have fun memories to cherish!

16. Kid’s Desk

Want to prank your boss or team lead? This is a funny yet cute prank!

Replace your boss’s desk and properties with a kid’s desk. Replace everything from phone to laptop to notepads.

Image Courtesy: Darkroastedblend

Additional tip- create letterheads with crayons. A colorful and funny prank indeed!

17. Autocorrect Prank

Slide into your colleague’s iPhone and change the autocorrect settings for ultimate hilarity!

Image Courtesy: Gottabemobile

Replace common words like “yes,” “cool,” “no” with phrases that are extravagant, for example-

“Yes” becomes “Oh! Yaaassss”
“No” becomes “Naw, son.”
“Ok,” becomes “BOOMSHAKALAKA.”

18. Caramel Onions

A sweet prank, indeed! Use this prank on someone who has a sweet tooth but hates raw onions.

Image Courtesy: Emlii

Just dip a raw onion into a pool of hot caramel, wait for it to set, and serve this unusual delicacy to your colleague as a caramel apple. They take a bite, they cry, and you laugh heartily!

19. Febreze War

Want to win an office prank war? Use Febreze.

Image Courtesy: Gottabemobile

Many people are irritated by the smell of an overpowering room freshener. Just tie a zip-tie around a Febreze and leave it on your colleague’s desk while they’re on a break; they’ll surely return to a potent workspace!

20. Cat Attack

No, we do not mean you attack a cat! Instead, use a few images of cats to irritate your colleague.

Image Courtesy: Lovethispic

You can use this prank on both who love cats and who doesn’t. Decorate their desk and work station with images of cats. They’ll either love it and or they’ll get annoyed! You just sit back and watch their priceless reactions.

Wrapping Up!

We hope you enjoyed reading this blog post, and you would definitely use some of these office prank ideas at your workplace. Keep in mind, play it safe, do not harm anyone who has a mental illness or PTSD, keep it fun, simple, and engaging for increased productivity and team functioning.

Which is your favorite prank? Do let us know in the comments section below!

This article is written by Gautam Gayan. He works as a Content Marketer at Vantage Circle. Apart from being a passionate content creator for HR services and employee engagement, Gautam is a theatre enthusiast, an avid reader and an asipring poet. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com