Happy April Fool’s Day!

Whether you are a prankster and get excited just by the thought of the first of April, or you are not a fan of April Fool’s Day because of being pranked one too many times, this blog is for you. If you dislike this holiday, now you might find out who to blame it on!

April Fool’s Day is kind of a mysterious holiday, but one theory is that in France in the 1500’s they changed the calendar to start celebrating the New Year in January instead of late March or April. News of the change did not travel very fast, so there were still people in rural areas celebrating the New Year in April – thus April Fool’s Day. Another theory is that it was common to pull pranks and camouflage yourself at European spring festivals of renewal. Another is that when Constantine ruled over the Roman Empire, his jesters convinced him to allow one of them to take over for a day, and that day was April 1.  This jester decreed April 1 to forever be the day of absurdity…Okay, so apparently that last one was a prank pulled on an Associated Press reporter by a professor of American humor, but that’s why it counts even more!

Today pranking is done less in the office and home and has become a tradition for big companies and media to play hoaxes on the public. Some are innocent enough, but sometimes others like ThinkGeek, notorious for releasing fake products on April 1st, end up in a bit of trouble. Their Canned Unicorn Meat product started out as an April Fool’s prank, but ended up granting them a cease and desist from the National Pork Board, which leads me to this tip: always consider the possible ramifications of your pranks, no matter how ridiculously obvious they are.

Have you Liked us on Facebook, or are you following us on Twitter? Feel free to share pictures or video of your office pranks with us! Make sure they’re work appropriate though, and getting the IT department involved earns bonus awesomeness points.

Happy (and safe) pranking!