16 Pranks to Do on Siblings That They'll Never Expect

Whether it's April Fool's Day or just a typical Saturday, these pranks to play on your siblings will help you win the prank war.

Updated February 29, 2024
Brothers having fun together

Life with siblings could not be more fun and entertaining. Have a bit of fun with them by pulling some classic pranks. These harmless, funny jests are perfect for April Fool's Day or any day of the year when you want to get a rise out of your kin.

Pranks to Do on Siblings That Will Leave Them Laughing and Starving

It isn't always advisable to mess with a hungry sib, but if they have a great sense of humor about life, one of these food-inspired pranks will undoubtedly have them rolling around on the kitchen floor.

A Healthy Twist on McDonald's

Head out to McDonald's and order a 20-piece chicken nugget meal. Upon returning home, remove the nuggets and fill the box with carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, and celery. Invite your starving sibling to the kitchen table for a snack. Won't they be shocked to find nothing but healthy foods headed their way? What a great sibling you are, always looking out for your loved ones' health.

To Brownie or NOT to Brownie?

Who doesn't enjoy a warm, home-baked brownie? Trick your family members by making brownie look-alikes. In a pan, set out enough clean sponges to cover the entire space. Using chocolate frosting, coat the sponges to look like you have baked a pan of treats. Douse the chocolate-covered sponges in sprinkles, and tell your siblings to help themselves to one.

Helpful Hack

Expecting brownies and not getting them can be rage-inducing. Cushion the blow by buying some at the store, baking up a batch, or whipping up a one-minute microwave brownie and sharing them AFTER you've played your prank. 

Leave Them Thirsty

Offer your sibling a nice, tall, cold glass of...Jell-O? Whip up a pitcher of Jell-O and pour the mixture into cups. Place a straw in each cup, pop them in the refrigerator, and let them set until firm. When your sibling comes in from a hot game of basketball, offer them refreshment. Enjoy the look of confusion and thirst that will indeed crawl across their face when the liquid doesn't exactly do what they intend for it to do.

Related: Harmless Pranks to Play on an Adult

Stack Them With Food

Your sleeping sibling is the picture of peace and serenity. While they're out cold, play a little, harmless game atop their heads. Assuming your sibling stays pretty still during their slumber, start stacking slices of bread, crackers, cookies, or anything flat and lightweight on the side of their face or their forehead. Make sure to document the entire thing, snapping pictures of your prank in action.

Swap the Condiments

Does your sister put a teaspoon of sugar in her oatmeal each morning, or does your brother put mustard on his ham sandwich religiously? Switch out condiments that your sibling uses most often. Put salt in the sugar bowl, sugar in the salt shaker, or ranch dressing in the mustard container. No one will be getting the meal that they thought they would.

Silly Sibling Pranks That Will Creep Them Out

Set up these pranks, and then sit back and wait for the sounds of your siblings shrieking!

"Bug" Them Royally

All you need to scare the pants off of your loved ones is a couple of plastic bugs that look very realistic. For a few dollars, you can have tons of fun hiding creepy critters in places where your siblings would least expect to find them. Place a plastic bug underneath your sister's pillow or on top of your brother's pile of mashed potatoes. Make sure they aren't paying attention when you hide the creepy-crawly look-alikes and get a head start running if you know that your brother or sister will be following this prank up with a full-speed-ahead attack headed in your direction.

Girl holding fake spider

Wake Them Up Real Fast

Forget tickling their toes while they sleep. If you want to prank your sibling, get into character. Put a creepy mask on and scoot underneath their bed around the time that they begin to stir. When they set their feet on the floor to start their day, grab their ankle or pop your masked face out and scare them. (Don't do this with young brothers or sisters or highly sensitive siblings who might not easily get over a sudden scare.)

Confuse Them With the Day of Their Birth

Honestly, are you even a brother or sister if you haven't told your sibling at least ONCE that they're adopted? Take the gag to an entirely new level by creating a fake birth certificate. You can easily download and print faux-birth certificate papers off many websites. All you have to do is click print and fill in the key information. Leave them somewhere in the house where your sibling won't be able to ignore them. Sit back and wait until you hear them bellow, "Moooooooom!"

Play Some Dress Up on a Big Day for Them

Is your brother or sister bringing home their boyfriend or girlfriend for the first time? Oh, what a treat for a prank-pulling jokester like yourself! Get the entire family in on some dress-up action, and transform your parents and siblings into strange human beings. When your brother or sister runs down to greet their love interest, sit on the couch and wait for it to dawn on them that their family is really anything but typical.

Prank Them by Sabotaging Everyday Items

If you're creative enough, you can use just about anything you find around the house in a sibling prank war. Think outside the box and trick your favorite family member using simple, everyday items.

Weave a Web of Frustration

When your sibling is away at a friend's house or at sports, sneak into their room armed with tape and yarn and weave a web that will take them a considerable amount of time to get through. You won't be able to do much else other than laugh as you watch them duck and weave, crawling through the yarn maze you created for them.

Seriously, What CAN'T You Do With Toothpaste?

There are so many easy and fun pranks to pull just by using toothpaste. Consider putting a bit of powdered food coloring in the toothpaste tube and see your sibling's teeth turn rainbow-colored. (Food color stains, so get parental approval here. Pranks are less fun when they get you grounded for a week!)

Capitalize on Something (or Someone) They Despise

Does your brother or sister have a person in entertainment that they honestly can...not...stand? They should never have revealed such information to you because now you can use it as a weapon. Print out tiny faces of the person who haunts your sibling's dreams and put those little faces everywhere. Leave no place untouched. Think of spots where they will look in days and weeks to come, as this prank is truly the gift that keeps on giving. 

Everything in the Fridge Is Watching You

A package of googly eyes will make everything in the refrigerator eerie. Put a set of eyes on everything from the milk to the apples to blocks of cheese. Any snack that your sibling reaches for will be intently watching them. This is easy, silly, harmless, and bound to draw out brotherly or sisterly smiles.

Young girl playing with silly googly eyes at home

The Good Old Plastic on the Shampoo Bottle Trick

This is a classic prank that your parents probably pulled on their siblings years ago. Open up the shampoo and conditioner bottles and cover them with plastic. Screw the top back on and wait for the next sibling to hop into the shower. They'll be frustrated and perplexed when they try and wash their hair. Chances are, they'll squeeze the bottle with all their might at one point, and the entire contents will come flowing out.

Slowly Replace Them

Some of the very best pranks are ones that you have to be patient with. In time, they reveal themselves and become all the funnier for extending past the immediate day that the prank began. Slowly begin replacing your sibling's photos around the house with an image of a random television actor. Don't do all the pictures at once — just one here and one there until someday, every image of their face in the home has been replaced with the face of someone else.

Mess With the Logins and Contacts

Go into the family Netflix account and change your sibling's login information. Replace their name with something hilarious and change the password on it. Make your login something that establishes your place in the Prank War hierarchy, like Princess Prankwar. If you know your sibling's password for their cellphone, go into their phone and change all their contacts, making them all read Lady Gaga or Ariana Grande.

Confused teenage boy looking at smartphone

Pranks Should Be Funny, Not Traumatizing

When it comes to pulling pranks — relatives, teacher pranks at school, or otherwise — remember that gags are meant to be funny, not traumatizing. Never do anything that will run a risk of physically injuring another person or scaring them emotionally. You know your siblings best, and you know their humor levels and what they can and can't handle. Before pulling off the ultimate prank, get your parents' approval and make sure that everything stays lighthearted and fun. While you're at it, get some ideas for April Fools pranks for your parents. It pays to be prepared ahead of time!

16 Pranks to Do on Siblings That They'll Never Expect