42 Easy & Harmless Pranks to Pull on Siblings

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Find the prank that will surprise them the most from our list!

Co-authored by Luke Smith, MFA

Last Updated: November 4, 2024 Fact Checked

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• Classic Pranks
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• Phone & Computer Pranks
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• Morning Pranks
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• Food Pranks
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• Q&A
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• Tips
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• Warnings

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Do you want to mess with your brother or sister, but don’t want to get in trouble with your parents? We’re here to help with this huge list of 42 pranks. We’ll teach you to pull classic stunts, mess with their phone, throw off their morning routine, or get your sibling to take a bite out of something silly, all without causing too much fuss or getting you punished. Bonus points if you get it on camera!

Easy Pranks to Play on Siblings at Home

• Tell them to look into a plastic water bottle, then squeeze it when they’re close.
• Hide fake creepy crawlies around their room.
• Replace the filling in Oreos with toothpaste.
• Dial *67 to prank call them from an anonymous number.
• Hijack their Bluetooth speaker and play annoying videos.
• Give them a sweet that was baked with a whole lot of salt.
• Place a pillow above their door to make a booby trap.

Steps

Section 1 of 4:

Classic Pranks for Your Sibling

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1. 1
   Squirt your sibling with a water bottle. Find a flexible plastic water bottle and remove the lid. Next, fill it with cold water. Trick your sibling into leaning over the water bottle and looking inside by saying something like, “Look, there’s something in my water!” When they come close, quickly squeeze the sides of the bottle. Water will shoot out of the bottle and into their face.

   • Or, tell them you’re going to show them a magic trick, and that the first step of the “trick” involves them looking into the water bottle.
2. 2
   Spray your sibling with water like fake snot. Get your hand soaking with warm water from the faucet, and don’t dry it off. Find your sibling and sneak up behind them. Next, flick your fingers to fling the water into their face while fake-sneezing loudly. They’ll think that you just sneezed and sprayed them with snot!

   • This prank works best if your sibling isn’t looking at you. Otherwise they will see that you threw water on them.
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3. 3
   Paint their pens and pencil with clear nail polish. Locate your sibling's favorite pens or pencils. Next, cover the tip with clear nail polish. Let the nail polish dry for about five minutes and replace the pens and pencils. When your sibling tries to use them, they won’t write at all!

   • Remove the nail polish by dipping the pens and pencils in nail polish remover.
4. 4
   Hide fake bugs around the house to spook them. Find some fake plastic bugs, or make some yourself out of pipe cleaner—you could also print out photos from the internet and use scissors to cut them out. Then, hide your fake bugs all around the house, like in drawers or on tables. When your sibling finds them, they’ll jump!
5. 5
   Hang cling wrap in their door to clothesline them. When your sibling is in their room with their door closed, quietly tape a length of clear cling wrap across their doorway, at about face height. Then, call their name to get them to come out. When they do, they’ll get a face full of cling wrap.

   • This works best if the cling wrap is smooth and tight, so that they can’t see it when they open the door.
6. 6
   Stick googly eyes on all their stuff. Get a bulk package of googly eyes, or make some yourself by drawing dots on hole-punched paper circles. When your sibling is away, use double-sided tape to stick a pair of googly eyes on all their things—folders, walls, bed posts, phone chargers, you name it. Go wild, and hide them in strange places to make sure they’re still finding googly eyes weeks later.
7. 7
   Prop pillows over the doors to set up booby traps. Find a small pillow, like the throw pillow from a couch. Prop the door of your sibling’s room open just enough so that you can place the pillow on top of the door and lean it against the wall. When your sibling opens the door, they’ll get bombarded by a soft pillow!
8. 8
   Take the batteries out of the TV remote. Turn on the TV and set the volume all the way up. Then, turn the TV off and take the batteries out of the remote. When your sibling wants to use the TV, they’ll have to use the buttons on the TV to make it work, and they’ll be blasted with sound while they’re up-close.
9. 9
   Line their ceiling fan with confetti. Take handfuls of confetti or torn-up scraps of paper and place them on top of the blades of the ceiling fan in their room. Next time they turn on the fan, they’ll get a shower of paper scraps! Just be aware that you’ll probably be recruited to help clean up.
10. 10
    Place ketchup packets under their toilet seat. This one’s a true classic. Get some small ketchup packets, and place them under the nubs on the underside of the toilet seat, so that they’re hidden. When your sibling sits on the toilet, the packets will burst and coat their legs with ketchup.

    • Make sure your sibling isn’t wearing nice clothes beforehand, because they’ll have to wash the ketchup out.
    • To make less of a mess, use bubble wrap instead.
11. 11
    Rearrange their room just slightly. While your sibling is away, move the furniture in their room a few inches. Make sure to move the bed, their desk, dressers, and anything else. When they come home, they’ll be disoriented by the change, but probably won’t realize what’s wrong.

    • Commit to the bit and move their furniture a few inches more every time they leave.
    • Or, completely rearrange their room for a more dramatic reaction! Just be careful not to damage anything.
12. 12
    Give them a fake parking ticket, or send them a fake bill. Use a word processor to type up a fake parking ticket, or print a template from the web. Then, stick it under the wiper blade on their car. If they don’t have a car, type up another sort of bill or fee, like a ticket for trespassing, and mail it to them.

    • Make it look super official, but don’t claim to be anyone official, like the cops or the city government. It’s a crime to impersonate government officials.
13. 13
    Swap the photos in their frames. Next time your sibling is away, take all the photos or art out of the frames on their walls and swap them with funny, printed images, like memes, animal photos, or photos of another family or person altogether.

    • Keep the original photos safe and undamaged, so your sibling doesn’t get too mad.
14. 14
    Put double-sided tape on the bottom of their shoes. This one’s super simple. Just cover the bottom of their shoes with double-sided tape so that the next time they leave the house, their shoes stick to the ground as they walk.

    • Avoid doing this if your sibling has an important day or an important place to be. You don’t want to be too annoying.
15. 15
    Hide a fake dollar bill somewhere. Print out an image of a dollar bill, then cut it out so it’s roughly the same size as a real one. Then, hide it so the corner sticks out, like in a book or under a stack of papers. You could even write something like, “GOTCHA!” on it to really sweeten the punchline.
16. 16
    Swap your sock drawers. Take everything from your sock and underwear drawer and place it in your sibling’s sock drawer, and take all their sock drawer stuff and put it in yours. Then, when they notice, act like you’re just as confused as they are.

    • If your sibling is neat, put their things in your drawer super neat. If they’re messy, keep it messy. That’ll make it more convincing.
17. 17
    Smear a little peanut butter on a toilet paper roll. Take the toilet paper roll out of their bathroom and unroll it a little. Then, smear a small amount of chocolate or peanut butter on the roll, and reroll it as best you can, then put it back in the bathroom and wait to hear their cries of disgust.
18. 18
    Give them the silent treatment, with a twist. This one works best if you recruit the rest of your family. When your sibling comes home, have everyone move their lips silently, as though they’re all having conversations your sibling can’t hear. If you do it right, your sibling will think they’re going crazy. Just don’t push it or make it go on too long, or they might get frustrated.
19. 19
    Pretend to see something cool that isn’t there. There’s nothing to this prank—literally! Just call your sibling over, like to a window, then point and describe something neat that isn’t actually happening, like you just saw a herd of deer or someone’s out there doing stunts on their bicycle. Insist they’re out there to drive your sibling wild.

    • For example, you might say, “Woah, look at all those eagles! Oh man you just missed them, they flew away. Wait there’s a few! Dang, you were too slow again.”
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Section 2 of 4:

Phone & Computer Pranks for Your Sibling

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1. 1
   Change the language on their phone. Log on to their mobile device and find the Settings button. This button is in different places on different kinds of phones. If you can’t find it, use the Search option. Next, find the Language settings. Change it from English to any other language. Your sibling will get frustrated when they try to use their phones.

   • If you don’t know the password to their phone, wait until they set their phone down or ask to borrow it for a phone call.
   • Just remember how to change the language back, otherwise things could get confusing!
2. 2
   Make their phone’s keyboard autocorrect to silly words. Open the keyboard settings on your sibling’s phone, then find the “Text Replacement” menu, or something like it. Then, type in a common “trigger word” that will get replaced when they try to type it, like “dog” or “parents,” and add a silly word that will replace it automatically, like “ostrich” or “rizzler.”

   • For example, next time they message someone, “I need to go walk the dog,” their phone will auto correct it to “I need to go walk the ostrich.”
3. 3
   Prank call them while hiding your phone number. To hide your number, dial “*67” before you type in your sibling’s number. Then, try to keep a straight face while you prank them over the phone! There are tons of classic prank phone call ideas, and here are a few to get you started:

   • Tell them they’ve won tickets to see their favorite musician.
   • Pretend like you’re just picking up the phone, and they called you, to confuse them. Then, keep calling them and pretending that they keep calling you.
   • Call them right after they place a food delivery order to tell them their food has arrived.
   • Call them and just say, “I know what you did,” then hang up.
4. 4
   Take over their Bluetooth speaker. While your sibling is listening to music on their speaker, sit in the next room and connect to it. As soon as you do, start playing something super loud, annoying, or silly, like a fun YouTube video or some music they hate. Crank the volume, and get ready to run!
5. 5
   Send them a gif of the “typing…” dots. You know those dots that show up when someone is typing a message? Find a transparent gif of those dots online, then send it in a message to your sibling. They’ll think you’re typing forever, and will get impatient waiting.

   • Make sure the dots match up with their brand of phone! Android and iPhone dots look different.
6. 6
   Put tape under their mouse. When they’re away, sneak into your sibling’s room and put some solid-colored tape, like painter’s tape, under their mouse to block its tracking. When they go to use their computer, the mouse won’t work!
7. 7
   Clone their social media account. Make a new social media account on Twitter/X, Instagram, or Facebook, and make a duplicate of your sibling’s account. You might make it slightly different, and name it something like “[Your sibling’s] Evil Twin.” Then, follow them and mimic their posts while adding funny little twists.

   • For example, if they post, “Meeting up with friends later, who’s in?” reply with “Me!” from the duplicate account.
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Section 3 of 4:

Morning Pranks for Your Sibling

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1. 1
   Glue their deodorant shut. First, remove the lid of their deodorant. Squeeze a large amount of superglue all around the edge of the lid. Replace the lid quickly. After a few seconds, the super glue will dry and the lid will be impossible to remove.

   • If you get any super glue on your fingers, use nail polish remover to get it off.
   • Make sure they have a backup deodorant. Otherwise, they might not be able to wear deodorant that day, which can be super frustrating.
2. 2
   Create useless soap with nail polish. Find a dry bar of soap and a bottle of clear nail polish. Paint the bar of soap with a few thick coats of clear nail polish. Allow the soap to dry for 5-10 minutes between each coat. After 3 or 4 coats, the soap will be completely sealed in the nail polish. When someone tries to use it in the shower, it won’t create any lather at all.

   • This technique works best with a brand new bar of soap. Older bars of soap can be soft and difficult to paint.
3. 3
   Make useless shampoo. Find some baby oil and your sibling’s favorite shampoo. Add a few tablespoons of baby oil to the shampoo and shake it to mix it up. When your sibling uses their shampoo, their hair will look even oilier than it did before they showered.

   • It’s best to do this when the shampoo is almost gone. Otherwise, your parents may get mad at you for wasting a whole bottle of shampoo.
   • The baby oil won’t damage your sibling’s hair, and washes out pretty easily.
4. 4
   Clog their shampoo with plastic wrap. Unscrew their shampoo, conditioner, and body wash bottles, then place a small square of cling wrap over the nozzles. Then screw the caps back on. Next time they try to get some soap, it’ll seem like the bottle is clogged, and nothing will come out.

   • This also works on pump bottles if you wrap the end of the pump’s straw in cling wrap.
   • Use 2-3 layers of wrap to make sure it holds.
5. 5
   Hide stopwatches in their room. Find or purchase 2 or 3 cheap alarm clocks or stopwatches. Set them all for different times before your sibling is supposed to wake up. Next, hide the alarms around their room—in the closet, under their bed, behind a book. When the clocks start ringing they’ll have to get up and search for them before going back to sleep.

   • For example, if your sibling wakes up at seven am, set the alarms for five, five thirty, and six am.
   • Don’t do this right before a big day at school. Otherwise, you may exhaust them on an important day.
6. 6
   Make them splat themselves with whipped cream. When your sibling is asleep, spray a swirl of whipped cream into the palm of their hand. Then, lightly tickle their face. Their reflexes will make them bring their hand to their face and splat themselves with whipped cream!
7. 7
   Write fake reminders on sticky notes. Find a pad of sticky notes and write things like, “Don’t forget your appointment today!” or, “Important phone call at noon!” Then, stick them on your sibling’s mirror or someplace else they’ll find it through the day. They’ll be super confused and wonder when they wrote the notes, and what they mean.

   • This works best if you imitate your sibling’s handwriting, so practice it beforehand.
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Section 4 of 4:

Food Pranks for Your Sibling

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1. 1
   Leave a fake cake on the counter. This prank is especially useful on cake-loving siblings. Find a clean, new kitchen sponge and place it on a plate. Next, frost the sponge with premade icing or whipped cream and sprinkle it with sprinkles. Leave the plate of “cake” on the counter with a fork. Sooner or later, your sibling won’t be able to resist trying a bite!

   • Don’t use an old kitchen sponge. The icing won’t stick to the wet surface and it will smell bad.
   • It’s best if you stack kitchen sponges, so that they look like a big piece of layer cake.
2. 2
   Freeze a bowl of cereal. Surprise your sibling in the morning by freezing their breakfast. Pour a bowl of cereal the night before and put it in the freezer. The next morning, pour a small amount of milk onto the surface of the frozen cereal to make it look realistic. Place the frozen cereal in front of your sibling and watch as they attempt to eat it.

   • This prank probably won’t work if your sibling doesn’t like cereal. They may refuse to eat it and your efforts would be wasted.
3. 3
   Drop raisins in their drink. Wait until your sibling makes themselves a cup of tea or hot chocolate. When they’re not looking, drop a few raisins into their drink. The dried fruit will sink onto the bottom of the cup. When they finish their drink, they’ll see small black insect-like chunks floating towards them, and might freak out.

   • This trick works best with warm, opaque drinks like coffee, hot chocolate, and tea with milk.
4. 4
   Prank them with the “hot sauce straw” trick. Find an old fast food drink cup with a lid and a straw. Take the lid off of the drink with the straw still inside. Next, open a small packet of hot sauce. Place the end of the straw in the hot sauce packet, set the packet and straw in the cup, and carefully replace the lid. Offer your sibling a sip of soda. When they take a drink, they’ll get a mouthful of hot sauce.

   • Fill the cup with ice after inserting the straw and hot sauce packet. This will make the drink seem more believable.
5. 5
   Swap their fast food with a healthy snack. Next time your sibling comes home with McDonalds or any other fast food, wait until they’re busy or distracted, then swap their burger, nuggets, fries, or whatever else with some fresh carrots or broccoli. They’ll scratch their head wondering where their treat went.

   • Place the healthy food in the fast food container, so it looks like nothing’s happened.
6. 6
   Spike a sugary sweet with a whole lot of salt. Make a batch of cookies or brownies, or wait until the next time someone in the house makes some sweets. Before they bake, add a spoonful of salt to a small portion, then bake it separately. Once it’s done, give the salty cookie to your sibling to try. They’ll have to spit it out!

   • Make sure you know which cookie is the salty one, otherwise you might lose track and eat it yourself.
7. 7
   Swap the sugar and salt on the table. Pour the salt out of a salt shaker, and replace it with sugar. Or, swap out the sugar bowl with salt. Next time your sibling goes to add some flavor to their food, they’ll get quite the flavorful twist!

   • You could also swap the ketchup and mustard in their containers, or swap virtually anything else. Get creative!
8. 8
   Wrap grapes up in foil like chocolate eggs. Get some thin tin foil, or take the wrapper off a piece of chocolate candy. Use the wrapper to cover a grape, and offer it to your sibling, who won’t be expecting a bit of fruit when they unwrap it.
9. 9
   Fill oreos with toothpaste for a minty surprise. Take an Oreo and carefully, twist it in half without breaking it. Scrape out the creme filling, then spread toothpaste on the cookie and sandwich them together again. Offer the Oreo to your sibling and watch their reaction when they bite into it.
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• Question

  What food prank would be the best?

  

  Community Answer

  Take a piece of toast and put green and yellow food coloring on it to make it look moldy. Ask them if they want some, when they look disgusted, take a bite.

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• Question

  Do you have any pranks to do before bed?

  

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  Put food coloring on their toothbrush, they'll be surprised when they go to brush their teeth before bed!

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  What is a good, quick prank?

  

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  Take a cup of water and pour it all over your sibling's pants in his bed while he sleeps! He will think he wet the bed.

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Tips

• To be really sure you won’t get in trouble, clear the prank with your parents before you do it.
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• Here's one prank I tried on my siblings! Add cornstarch to some water and mix it. (You can also refrigerate it for a while for the effect.) Tell them it's milk or melted ice cream and offer it to them. I tried this on my siblings, and wow, their faces! Gross, but totally harmless since cornstarch is safe to have straight up!
• Make sure your parents are in a bubbly mood so they might find it funny instead of getting you in trouble.
• If you can dish it, you have to be able to take it! Don't be surprised if your sibling pranks you back.

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Warnings

• Don't prank them if they’re sick, sad, or angry that day. You might just make things worse.
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• Make sure that the prank won't put them in harm's way. It wouldn't be funny if they got hurt because you got careless.
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• Don’t prank the same person over and over. Repetitive pranking quickly goes from funny to annoying.
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• Don’t ruin anything that your sibling cares about. If you do, you could get in trouble.
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