12 Virtual Ideas and Activities for April Fool’s Day at Work

Ah, April Fool’s – the day we act all serious and honest. (Ha ha). But in all seriousness, there’s no other day of the year when you want to laugh out loud more than on April Fool’s, and the work environment is no exception. We all have that one colleague we just need to prank, right?

Adding some lighthearted elements to the workday is always welcome, especially in remote teams! After all, you don’t get as much interaction with your remote colleagues as you would in the office, so virtual team building activities are a necessity. So what are you waiting for? Close that spreadsheet and start brainstorming some virtual event ideas to celebrate April Fool’s Day at work! Just kidding – we wouldn’t leave you without any inspiration! Keep on reading and discover our favourite ways to celebrate with remote employees this April 1st.

What is April Fool’s Day?

April Fool’s Day has been around for centuries, and it is well known for being a day filled with hoaxes and practical jokes. We can’t be sure about the origin of this holiday, but our favourite explanation is the 17th century prank of sending the naive victims to a ditch on the pretext of ‘seeing the Lions washed’! I mean, who wouldn’t get fooled, right?

Why should we celebrate April Fool’s Day at work?

While it’s difficult to point to the exact reasons for this annual holiday of laughter and pranks,  the amount of theories about the origins of April Fool’s Day points to something very clear! Humanity has always loved to tell jokes and play pranks, so a single day dedicated to them each year really is the bare minimum. 

Nowadays, perhaps more than ever, we all need a bit of lighthearted fun to lighten up our days! Celebrating April Fool’s at work can help your team connect with each other and build bonds, which is especially important in a remote team, where these types of opportunities are scarce. Also, telling a few jokes and playing pranks will allow everyone to get to know each other better and fuel the team with positive energy!

Hosted Virtual Team Events for April Fool’s Day

Want to celebrate the holiday with your remote colleagues, but can’t fit ‘planning a virtual social event’ on your task list? No problem! Just get the help of a virtual team-building company – we promise, this one is not a hoax! We will help you save some time and ensure every employee has a good laugh on April Fool’s Day. Yes, even the grumpiest ones!

1. Team Quest

• Price: from £16/$19 per person
• Group size: 6-400
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Vibe: Sparks conversation ✨

Team Quest is a fantastic way to lighten your remote team’s mood and encourage bonding. You can choose between different games and themes, so the experience can be tailored to your needs and preferences! Our favourite suggestion for this one? A custom game of the hilarious Two Truths and a Lie. Our professional host will make sure everyone shares a solid round of laughter!

2. Special Edition Quiz Show

• Price: £2020
• Group size: 50-300
• Duration: 90 minutes
• Vibe: Gripping ⚡

Would your team enjoy a good old virtual interactive experience? In Special Edition, a professional group of improvisational actors will present live comedy sketches to your team. You can decide how the show proceeds in real time, so make sure to keep things extra funny! 

3. Yolking from Home – Family Feud

• Price: from £520/$725
• Group size: 8-180
• Duration: 75 minutes
• Vibe: Competitive 🏆

Yolking from Home is a fantastic remote team building activity for April Fool’s! It’s a fun-filled game in which your employees team up to compete in a range of virtual games. The game includes such activities as The Inner Artist and the Truth or Make it up Challenge so there’s plenty of opportunities to share ridiculous ideas, jokes, and even hoax your colleagues!

4. An Unusual Knight’s Tale

• Price: £415
• Group size: 2-10
• Duration: 80 minutes
• Vibe: Adventurous 📜

Filled with exciting puzzles and epic puns, An Unusual Knight’s Tale is the perfect April Fool’s Day remote team event for smaller groups. Your squad will be tasked with breaking the Curse of the Crown. What is the curse, you ask? In true April Fool’s spirit, of course, it’s telling extremely bad jokes!

Free April Fool’s Day Remote Ideas to Amp Up the Competition

There are two things people enjoy the most: laughing and winning. No, really, we mean it! Bringing a bit of healthy competition into your virtual celebration of April Fool’s is a great way to boost morale and encourage everyone to participate. It’s also really easy to set up by yourself and costs next to nothing. Well, unless you decide to give out gift cards and vouchers as prizes to the winners!

5.Virtual Background Swap Contest

In a remote environment, it’s good to make the most of what you’ve got! Ask your colleagues to change their usual video call backgrounds into something hilarious, like a meme or a screengrab from a show. The more tech savvy employees might go for an elaborate video background, for example a clip of them entering the room and showing off their dance moves! Make sure you set up an easy way to vote for the funniest background at the end of the day.

6. Ridiculous Poetry Slam

Just ask everyone to prepare a joke-riddled rhyme and see who wins the most laughter from the audience. Make sure to practise your performance beforehand – we are looking for passionate poems, not bland recitations! If the team is a bit more adventurous, why not organise a funny rap battle? Fast internet connection and a video call are all you need for this remote April Fool’s activity!

7. Virtual Scavenger Hunt with a Twist

This one needs a bit more preparation, but we promise, it’s worth it! All you need to do is craft a range of pranks, jokes, and funny changes you can implement throughout the workday. Switch team and document titles, add hilarious nicknames, change some profile pictures and drop a few Easter eggs during the meetings, the possibilities are endless! At the beginning of the day, send a checklist of all the hidden jokes to all employees (aside from anyone invested in the plot, that would be cheating!). The rules are simple: the first person who finds everything on the list wins the virtual scavenger hunt!

8. Made-Up Task Competition

If you want to bring a bit of April Fool’s fun into your morning meeting, there’s a simple way to do it! You can ask everyone to come up with a fake task and introduce it naturally along with the rest of their plan for the day. If you are aiming to induce some laughter, make it a ‘most ridiculous task’ contest! If you aren’t so much into that kind of humour (on April Fool’s? Shame on you!), you can also go more in the direction of hoaxing! Ask the team to come up with fake tasks that will be difficult to spot and see who has the best detective skills!

April Fool’s Day Ideas at Work to Make Everyone Laugh out Loud

If you’re just here for a good laugh, these are for you! In the famous words of Socrates, ‘April 1st without laughter is just March 32nd’. What do you mean he didn’t say that? You’re just playing with us! 

9. Remote Stand Up Comedy Night

Let your comedic skills shine! This virtual team event for April Fool’s Day is easy to organise: just schedule a video call and turn your colleagues into stand-up comedians for the day. It’s good to have an agenda, so that everyone can have their five minutes of fame!

10. Virtual Pictionary

There’s something about drawing silly little pictures on your laptops that just makes everyone cry with laughter! You can use a free virtual pictionary website, like Gartic Phone, to play a variety of games with your remote team. Come up with ridiculous prompts, finish each other’s drawings, and enjoy yourselves this April 1st!

11. Silly Song Virtual Karaoke

It’s easy to organise a virtual karaoke session and your colleagues will be ecstatic to show off their vocal talents. Just craft a solid silly songs playlist (or go the easy route and find one online) and let the fun times begin! To add a touch of desperation (it can be funny if you do it right), make the song allocation a lottery. Who will struggle for their life trying to keep up with the Scatman song?

Bonus Idea

12. Company Meme Board

Do you want the laughter to keep going when April Fool’s Day is over? That’s where your remote work environment has an advantage!

What we’re thinking is basically a compilation of all the company-specific memes your colleagues can come up with! You can create a shared document or set up a dedicated channel on your messaging platform for this purpose. Encourage everyone to share their creations. We bet there’s some memes and edits buried deep in their folders that are worth showing to the entire team! 

With this idea, you’ll create a fantastic meme and reaction image inventory that will keep the laughter and good spirits going for the entire year. Until next April Fool’s, of course, when you’ll update your compilation and see how many new inside jokes have popped up! 

FAQs:

What is a Virtual April Fool’s Day?

Virtual April Fool’s Day is exactly what it sounds like: the celebration of the holiday in a remote environment! It can be as simple as jumping on a funny video call or as complex as organising an elaborate remote scavenger hunt. It’s good to include some themed team building activities in the celebration, as it improves the bonds between your employees and allows them to reconnect with each other!

Where can I host a Virtual April Fool’s Day party for work?
Hosting a virtual event for April Fool’s can be as easy as scheduling a call on your regular virtual meeting platform, such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams. It won’t require much planning or generate additional costs! If you’re going to play games, you can host them on one of the many free virtual game websites or take your celebration to the next level and use a professional remote team building platform.

How can celebrating April Fool’s Day boost team happiness?

According to Mayo Clinic, laughter can be a game-changer in stress relief. It can soothe tensions and improve your team’s mood within seconds! Additionally, sharing jokes and playing pranks can help with virtual team building, improve morale, and provide a much-needed escape from the stress and seriousness of the regular workday. Dedicating a few hours to the celebration of laughter won’t hurt your business objectives, but it can surely boost your team’s happiness and satisfaction!

How do I make sure no one is hurt during remote April Fool’s Day?

When celebrating April Fool’s Day at work it’s important to be sensitive. Some jokes and pranks can cause stress, anxiety, and even seriously offend your colleagues. As a rule of thumb, avoid anything related to job positions and other serious topics – don’t hoax anyone into thinking they’re being promoted or fired just to yell ‘April Fool’s’ right afterwards! Additionally, make sure your jokes are culturally appropriate and don’t ridicule anyone’s race, gender, religion, background, or interests. If anyone has any comments or concerns about the activities, make sure you take time to listen to them.