In the vein of food...Last year we had a cookie exchange at Christmas time. I made some (upon request for the 3rd year in a row) almond sugar cookies. I set enough dough aside for 3 cookies out of 4 dozen. Those three I loaded up with mustard powder. I was just going to let people take them and they would just have a surprise when they got home. Well, a bunch of people couldn't make it, and it was just the hosts, their 12 year old and 8 or 9 year old, another couple, and me. I told the hosts and other couple my plan which now would not be implemented, but not the kids. Well the 12 year old boy (or at least he identifies as, looks like, and acts like a boy) was saying how he could eat whatever number of cookies he said. 10 maybe, I don't recall. So I lay the bait. "I bet you couldn't eat 10. I bet you couldn't even it five. Actually, I bet you couldn't even eat three cookies." He takes the bait. His mom and dad are trying not laugh. So I egg him on for a while about it during dinner, and say, that after dinner I get to pick the cookies. He doesn't hesitate at all because even the largest cookies weren't that big. I hand him the first one, and hilarity ensues when he reacts to the flavor. Mom and dad said it was a good lesson and told him that he needs to be careful about what sort of bets and challenges he makes.
Speaking of the dad...
I think I was 30 and in the years leading up to that I played in some really competitive flag football leagues with the dad (whom I've known since we were teens). Quite a few ex D-III, D-II players and even a few ex D-I guys. Since I was 2 years younger than everyone when I was in HS, I never played football in HS because I wasn't big enough to play until I was already out of college. But I played QB and more than held my own against all these college players. So the local arena league has a tryout, and I go to it. There's probably a hundred or so people at the tryout, and even though I played QB, I trying out as WR/DB. They keep cutting players, and by the time the end of the day rolls around there just a handful of us left. They tell 3 or 4 guys to hang around, and thank the other 5 or 6 of us for coming out. I had no expectations of making the team, it was just something to see where I stacked up. Had I tried out as QB I probably would have been one of the 4 or 4 invited, because frankly I was a better QB than what they demonstrated at tryouts and a few of the other wide out candidates I warmed up with said I should have tried out as QB.
Anyway, fast forward a couple months and the pro team hosts a flag football tourney. During the last game I point out to my teammates (including the dad) that the PR guy for the team along with the head coach is watching us. I don't think it's a big deal - they were watching all of us play, and we were in the championship game, so of course they would be. We win the championship game, get a big trophy, some handshakes and we go home. This was in January maybe? Fast forward to first thing in the morning April 1st and I get a phone call from the PR guy.
"Hey, this is the PR guy and we are hosting another tournament next month, do you guys want to defend your title?" I told him we didn't really like the format, they promised some things that didn't happen, and after verifying it was going to be the exact same setup, said I would check with the team and let him know later that day. I hang up the phone and a light bulb goes off. I call the dad, and say:
"I just got off the phone with the PR guy and he had two questions for me. The first was if we wanted to play in another tourney, but the setup was going to be the same, so I said would check and see with the rest of you. The second thing was if I was busy this afternoon."
"Oh? Why does he want to see you?"
"Remember when we were playing and I pointed out the HC and the PR guy watching us?"
"Yeah."
"Well, the coach remembered me from tryouts, and after seeing me play wondered why I didn't try out as a QB. Apparently the backup QB got hurt and they need someone quick. So they want me to come down at 3:00 this afternoon to run through with the team, see how quick I pick up the playbook, and if all goes well, it sounds like I'm basically on the team."
"Holy **** that's awesome! Can you get tickets?! How much will you get paid?! You know everyone is going to come down, and hope the starter gets hurt so we can watch you. Holy **** this is the coolest thing."
"OK, well, it's just a walk through, I might suck. But I'm gonna call your brother [my best friend from growing up] and let him know as well."
I let him get way way way more excited than I thought he would, and I said I'd call him back and he'd be the first to know what happened. I knew I couldn't say the starter got hurt, that would have made local news. Backup, not so much. And he bought it. Before I called him back he told EVERYONE he knew, coworkers, family, mutual friends, other friends, everyone except his brother. I had an AF joke for his brother as well, and after I suckered him, I told him what I did to the dad. Well later in the day those two talked because when I called the dad back to ask for some "technical support" on a computer issue I was having with my calendar and asked him what day his calendar said.
"Ed's A Bastard Day."
The aftermath from it was a-ma-zing. For months, people were asking him in earnest if his friend made the team, etc... and he had to hang his head in shame and say "It was an April Fools prank."
As an aside, at the tryout we worked with some of the pros. These pros were levels above the D-I guys, and these were guys not good enough to be in the NFL, so there's a huge gap in talent between your average D-I player and the guys that play on Sunday, and Monday, and Thursday.