If you’ve been egged: Clean up as quickly as possible, before the egg dries and corrodes paint. Spray with a hose. Don’t rub; the shells could scratch your paint.

If you’ve been hit with shaving cream: Use a hose and blot what’s leftover with a soft cloth.

If you have soapy windows: Spray with water.

If it’s Silly String: Try to get it before it hardens and sticks. Use a hose, and don’t rub since it could scratch the paint.

Swapping Pumpkins
Here’s an alternative to smashing jack o’ lanterns in the road, and it works best when you know the people in the neighborhood. Simply “swap” the pumpkins between houses! Sneak up to the porch, snag the pumpkin and move it over the next-door neighbor’s porch and vice versa.

Water Balloon War
The potential to wreck someone’s costume aside, how about bombarding older trick-or-treaters with water balloons? Squirt guns would also work.

It’s Alive!
Put a casket by the door and, dressed like a ghoul, skeleton or other representative of the living dead, crawl in. Get a helper to cover you with candy. With trick-or-treaters reach in, return to life and sit up, scaring the living daylights out of the poor kids.

Scary Statue
Dress up and pose like a lawn decoration such as a scarecrow. When kids walk by, come to life.

Trick or Trick
Confuse trick-or-treaters (the following works best on family members and kids you know) by passing out, not candy, but something weird such as golf tees, Band-Aids or plastic forks.

What Holiday Is This?
An alternative to the above: Pass out treats from another holiday. Candy canes, chocolate hearts and Easter eggs are good choices. This will also help you get rid of all that stale candy!

Turning the Tables
When you open to the door to trick-or-treaters, yell, “Trick or treat!” and hold out a bag like you expect them to give you candy.

Services Rendered
Attempt to “charge” trick-or-treaters for the candy you just gave them. You could even write up a fake bill.

Candy Waiter
Hand trick-or-treaters a menu-style list of candies to choose from.

Caramel Onions
Sure, caramel apples are great, but how about making caramel onions this Halloween? The easiest way to make caramel onions is to buy the pre-made caramel squares in the supermarket, wrap them around an apple-sized onion, stick a stick in and heat briefly in the microwave. These are perfect to bring out on a tray at a Halloween party. If you have a specific “target” in mind, make a bunch of real caramel apples and one caramel onion and make sure that person gets the onion.

Bobbing for Spiders
Fill the party’s drink cooler with ice, drinks and … plastic bugs and spiders.

Role Reversal
Dress up and go trick-or-treating, but when someone answers the door and offers you candy, give them candy instead.

If You Are Going to TP…
Be sure to use 2-ply, so it doesn’t break apart when hanging from trees, etc. If you want to be a real Safe Prankster, go back and help clean up later—especially before it rains.

TP Turnaround
TP your own yard and drive your friends and family crazy accusing others of doing it.

Ready, Salute!
Here’s a classic: Raise someone’s clothing (preferably underwear) up the camp flagpole! Be sure not to disrespect the actual flag.

Sheet Rock
Short-sheet the bed. This is a classic that’s been around forever. You just fold the top sheet in half and tuck it in.

False Alarm
Plan ahead and bring a bunch of cheap alarm clocks to camp. Set them to go off every half hour during the nite, and then hide them around the cabins.

Cold, Hard Cash
Stick a bunch of pennies at the foot of the beds of family members. When they put their feet under the covers, they’ll get a cold surprise!

Money Madness
Here’s another money-related prank that will work best on kids. Tie or tape a string, length of floss or fishing line to a dollar bill. Leave the bill on the floor, and when someone goes to pick it up, pull the string! It’s an oldie but goodie.

Dressed for Success
If you still lay out your clothes for your kids in the morning try this one: Sew together the armholes of shirts, or cut the toes out of socks. Of course, this is a better idea if the clothes aren’t new. Might work for husbands, also.

Wake-up Call
If April 1 falls on a weekend, wake your kids up like you would on a school day and go through the whole routine of getting ready for school. Start driving them to school before you announce that it’s Saturday (or Sunday) and it’s April Fool’s. If April 1 is on a weekday, you can still have some fun: Change all the clocks and get the kids up a couple of hours early. Rush around.

I Can’t Find It!
If you’re a teacher who makes up word scrambles or word hunts for your class or school, make a special April 1 edition. What you know and they don’t is that this time, the words aren’t really in there!

Bonkers Breakfast
Serve your family up a breakfast in which everything is messed up: frozen cereal milk, vinegar instead of apple juice, paper cooked into the middle of pancakes, etc.

Message Mixup
On April 1, change your outgoing voicemail message to sound like you’ve really answered the phone. As in, “Hello? Hello?” Follow up with a wish for a happy April Fool’s Day.

On Thin Ice
If you have an icemaker in your refrigerator, put some candies (such as M & Ms or jellybeans) in it so they’ll come out instead of ice, surprising the drink-seeker.

Super Soaker
If your kitchen sink has a sprayer nozzle, secretly secure it in the “on” position with a strong rubber band. Ask someone to go get you a drink (to be safe, you want to make sure they aren’t going for the hot water.) When they turn on the tap, they’ll likely get soaked!

Car-pe Diem
Get a bunch of jocks to pick up someone’s car and move it. Move an underclassman’s car to the senior lot, or a senior’s car to the faculty lot. Be careful and expect to be punished by school officials!

Too Late
(This one is great for teachers who want to teach students a lesson about getting to class on time.) When a student, or group of students, comes in late, don’t look at them but just say to the rest of the class: “And what I just went over is really the only thing you need to know to pass this class.”

Capsizing Cups
This may be a time-waster and a detention-getter but it’s not unsafe. Fill an entire school hallway or dorm area with cups half-full of water. It takes a long time to set up, but just as long for the “victims” to pour them all out.

Telemarketer Trickster
When a telemarketer calls, pretend you’re an answering machine. You can press the phone pad for real beeps.

Ring Wrong
Download a really embarrassing ringtone and install it on your loved one’s phone. Send them out on an errand, or wait until they’re at the office, and call.

Animal Magnetism
Leave a coworker or family member the message that a “Mr. Lyons” or “Ms. Behr” called. On it, write the number for the local zoo.

Surprise Dinner
Remove the labels from all the canned food in the house. You could also switch around the labels.

Snap, Crackle, POP
Blow up a balloon and place it in a bowl. Fill the rest of the bowl with something that must be served or eaten with a fork. Wait for an unsuspecting guest to go for the dish, pop the balloon and send food flying everywhere.

Just Eat It
Replace something that would look gross if you ate it with something edible, and go around eating it. For example: Replace dog or cat food in can with tuna, or replaced bagged pet food with something that looks like it.

That’s Hot
Fill a hollow snack, such as pretzel rolls, with hot pepper. Or hollow out something like a cheese puff and do the same. Ouch!

Comfortably Numb
If you work in a dental office and have access to topical antiseptic, place a little on the rim of your coworker’s drinking cup. We hear a little bit is considered safe, but we’d stop short of putting it on someone’s toothbrush!

Spiced Apple
Make caramel apples for everyone, except for your victim, who will have a caramel-covered onion.

TP Turnaround
You’ve heard of putting toilet paper all over the outside of someone’s house, but how about sneaking a key and tp-ing the inside instead?

Paper Lyin’
Sneak over to your target’s house after the morning newspaper is delivered and replace it with yesterday’s newspaper.

Door Prize
Cover a doorway with clear plastic wrap and wait for someone to try to enter. This works best in a darkened room, especially during a party.

Malevolent Movers
This one takes a lot of time and energy, but the results are worth it! While house-sitting, or having sneaked into someone’s house, get some friends to help you switch the furniture from one room to another, or even from one floor to another. You could also turn furniture upside down, or, if you’re really industrious, have all the furniture moved to someone else’s house, or to a storage unit. You could replace their furniture with junky furniture, or inflatable furniture or whatever. Your target must have a good sense of humor for this prank.

Lights Out
Unscrew all the lightbulbs just a bit. They’ll try flipping circuits before realizing it’s just the bulbs.

Label Maker
Using labels or Post-It, go around someone’s house labeling things. You can use the real names of the items, or joke names. Be creative and they’ll be finding your little notes for months to come.

Fork in the Lawn
Ever heard of “forking” someone’s lawn? Take a whole bunch (hundreds!) of cheap plastic forks and stick them, tine-side down, all over the lawn. They’ll have to remove them all before they can mow or otherwise use their lawn.

Whistling Dixie
Buy a whole lot of Dixie cups—the small, paper kind. Line them up on the floor close to one another, and as you go, fill them halfway with water. (Be sure to leave yourself an escape route.) This won’t hurt the carpet, unless your victim neglects to take the time to pick up each cup individually.

Chalk Talk
Chalk “body” outlines, crime-scene style, in someone’s driveway and sidewalk.

Peanut Party
With a lot of packing tape and packing peanuts, you can fill an entire small room (such as a bathroom) with packing peanuts. Run strips of tape across the door frame (warning: may damage paint or wood) and throw more and more peanuts in as you go. This would also be fun with balloons.

Who’s Home?
Sneak into someone’s house, take a picture of yourself standing in their house wearing their clothes, and send it to them.

Held for Ransom
“Kidnap” your neighbor’s treasured lawn ornament, or co-worker’s lucky knick-knack and hold it for “ransom.” Send pictures of the item with notes saying it will not be returned until the person performs a variety of silly tasks (such as bake cookies for the whole office.)

Attack of the Lawn Animals
Better yet, take a bunch of lawn animals from all over the neighborhood and put them on one person’s lawn.

Animal Nature
First, make sure your “target” has a good sense of humor. And lawn animals. Sneak into their lawn and rearrange their animal into compromising positions, such as kissing, chasing one another—use your imagination.

Key to Fun
During a party, drop someone’s keys into a container of water and freeze them. They won’t be getting home as quickly as they may have hoped.

Lights Out
Just turn off the lights on someone who’s walked into a public or private restroom.

Cold Shower
Ever get that burst of cold water from someone accidentally flushing the toilet while you’re in the shower? Do it to someone on purpose!

Shower Switcharoo
While your friends are showering (in a dorm or gym or whatever), switch around their clothes.

Prescription for Trouble
Leave something odd out on the bathroom counter when you have guests over—something that will get them talking, such as wart remover, lice treatment or breast-growth cream.

Hiss-terical
Four words: rubber snake in toilet.

On a Roll
Unroll the toilet paper partway, stick something gross in it (like a real or fake bug) and roll it back up again for your next bathroom guest.

Stuck Shampoo
Unscrew the lids of the shampoo bottles and secure a piece of Saran Wrap inside so when the person showering squeezes it, nothing comes out. Tip: You might need to use a rubber band around the wrap.

That’s Cheesy
Fill the roll-on deodorant container with something gross, such as cream cheese or mayonnaise.

Tricky Toothpaste
Squish and roll up a raisin until it’s all gooey. Stick it into the hole of a toothpaste tube and put the cap back in. Wait for the yells.