The Best Prank Toys
Our Review Process
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Our Picks For The Top Prank Toys
This hilarious spider prank box is crafted from lacquered pine wood. When the smooth top is opened, a life-like black rubber spider leaps right out onto your hand. Place a small gift inside, like a piece of jewelry or gift card, to soften the blow.
Creepy, Crawly and Scream-yThis prank box will work on everyone, from grandparents to small kids and pets. Get ready for big laughs!
Cooplay's battery-operated electric shock chewing gum packs look like real products, but offer recipients a harmless shock when they touch it. You'll get two of these with one order; the company warns that they may break when dropped.
Not Good to Snack OnPick up a few of these shocking gum packs before the holidays, and you will be a hit at every party you attend.
The Schylling Joke Box includes eight easy and classic pranks, including goofy fake teeth, fake vomit, a hand buzzer, fake dog poop, a floating eyeball, a squirt ring and a fart whistle. Try these gags out on your friends or give this as a gift!
Here are the ClassicsRest assured that you will get plenty of laughs from the people you prank with this set of classic gags.
You'll fool everyone with this normal-looking can of potato chips. When the top is opened, a long, spring-loaded snake jumps out to surprise family and friends. This is a super-fun prank that will amuse everyone over and over again.
It Pops Right OutThis compressed snake-in-a-can is a classic prank that will always put smiles on people’s faces.
Buying Guide
Prank toys are designed to get a reaction out of people — hopefully, a funny one. You’ll want to put some thought into what kinds of jokes will prove effective in making your intended audience laugh without inducing anxiety, anger or acute embarrassment.
If you decide to move forward, there are many traditional favorites. Products that have been around for years include everything from ugly fake teeth to shocking gum packs. You can also find newer designs that feature things like fake jumping spiders, fake lottery tickets and hand gels and candles that smell like bodily waste products (and much worse). Basically, you’ll have no trouble finding something that plays to your particular sense of humor.
Some of the best jokes are the ones people just aren’t expecting, and these can be used over and over again. The snake-inside-a-potato-chip can provide plenty of laughs, for example. Fake dog poop and vomit are also pretty entertaining. Just remember that some people may be upset by these kinds of prank toys. If you are unsure, err on the side of caution and try another prank.
What to Look For
- Prank toys that produce harmless electric shocks require batteries, which may or may not be included. If these toys get wet, they may not work again.
- A hand or “joy” buzzer is a good alternative to electric shock prank toys, because it produces a buzzing effect instead of a shock. It attaches with a finger loop to the bottom of your hand, and when someone goes to shake your hand … zzzzzt!
- Make sure that the prank toy is age-appropriate for the intended recipient. Electric shock toys, for example, may also be unsuitable for children under the age of 14.
- For the best results, set up your prank ahead of time and make sure it takes place in front of a lot of people. For example, Christmas dinner would be a great time to put a bug-in-the-ice in your dad’s glass of seltzer.
- Have someone get a camera ready ahead of time as well, so you can record the event and embarrass the person afterward!
More to Explore
Fake dog poop always gets a lot of laughs, but real ancient animal poop is actually quite interesting, if also very gross. In 1981, a graduate student named Melinda Zeder (now an archaeozoologist at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History) was in southwestern Iran sorting through animal bones in a Paleolithic cave when she came across an unidentifiable fragment.
Zeder says that archaeologists who want to distinguish stones from bones touch their tongues to these artifacts; the tongue will stick to bone, if that’s what it is. When she tried this, the item started to dissolve; a more experienced colleague informed her that it was hyena poop. Apparently ancient feces can last for thousands of years!