Pranks {The Return of Black & Gold}

Nearly everyone I know has, at one time or another, been the target of a prank by me. It's sort of a comopliment I suppose- if we are good enough friends for me to prank you then we are pretty good friends. It's just part of the territory of being my friend.

In Santa Barbara a group of friends and I put together a list of pranks and one by one checked them off as we tin-foiled, saran-wrapped, toilet-papered or post-it-noted someone about once a week. 

We filled a porch with brimming cups of water, we suspended a stapler in Jell-O and brought it to movie night. We filled the bed of a truck with shredded paper. Long before Thomas and I were dating we stole his bedroom door and held it hostage for ice cream. I think he still owes me that ice cream...

We named our little group Black & Gold after a song  by Sam Sparro that we loved to blast while on our adventures. 

A few of the original Black & Gold members

Bam! Stapler in Jell-O!

 Now, pulling all of these pranks meant that occasionally I was a target. I walked into my office one morning to see this:

On my birthday my friend Danielle made a pinata that looked like me (complete with hair on fire):

The same birthday brought post-it notes on MY car- I had to drive to church with most of these still attached because I was late for early meetings when I found out I had been got:

I had someone try to sell my car on Craigslist for $600.

 I once came home from camping to find that everything I owned- I mean everything!- had been packed up in boxes and saran wrapped together on my back patio. The only thing left in my closet was this jumpsuit:

The nicest prank I have been on the receiving end of was when I came home from a trip to find my bed full of food. To this day I don't know who left it all there but I was sure surprised and very grateful!

Last summer I went blueberry picking with a new friend of mine here in Boston and we discovered that we share a love of pranks. All those months ago we decided that we would post-it note her husbands car on April Fools day. 

We planned and plotted and on April 1st I took an extra long lunch hour to help out and inspire a new generation or pranksters.

J was such a great helper and kept yelling, "It looks amazing!" "Good job, Mom, you're doing great!" "Look at my row, it looks like fire!". He may have been a little excited.

Melanie's face lit up as she realized the artistic potential of simple paper squares.

Baby N chilled in her stroller and looked at us like we were a little nuts. She also ate a few post-it notes.

It took us about an hour and 2,400 post-it notes to complete the job. I have to say, I am pretty proud of our work!

How is this for a family portrait? I think this should be framed and proudly displayed in the Curtis household.

All of those years of prank-pulling continue to pay off!

I wish we would have been able to see the reaction as my friend's husband realized what had happened. Did I mention that we moved the car to exit of the parking garage. Everyone that came or went on the afternoon of April 1st got a good look at this puppy. So did everyone on the freeway the whole way home. I heard reports that people were slowing down to take pictures as this thing flapped down the road.

After the trip home

Some people think that things like this are mean but I have always seen it as a form of endearment. I only prank people I know very well and who I know will take it lightly. I even received a thank you note from another family we got this year (we filled their mud room with balloons). 

So, I encourage you to try something mischievous and fun. Get creative and even a little artistic with it and let someone know how much you care!