My Kid’s Birthday Is April Fools Day. Here’s What We Did This Year.
Marcus turned seven this morning. He announced at breakfast that today was the one day he was legally allowed to lie, and then told me breakfast was canceled. He is seven.
We’ve done April Fools birthdays for seven years. This year he wanted a real prank party — not a birthday party that happened to fall on a weird day, but an actual prank-themed birthday where the pranks were the point. I was fine with this. I have learned to lean in.
The Hat Station Did the Heavy Lifting
I set out plain white cone hats and one instruction on an index card: design your hat to fool someone. The goal is that another kid has to ask you what your hat is supposed to be.
This ran for 28 minutes. I was in the kitchen. Nobody got hurt. Marcus drew a stick figure in a tuxedo and told everyone it was a ghost who only haunts fancy restaurants. He repeated this explanation six times. The ghost had a name (Gerald) and a backstory (haunted the wrong restaurant by accident in 1987 and now can’t leave).
The hats are from GINYOU — plain cone hats, pack of 10, $12, CPSIA certified. Plain white so kids can draw anything. My daughter is four and drew a face and then wore it to dinner. She did not find this unusual.
Reverse Scavenger Hunt
Each kid had to hide one small object somewhere in the backyard without being seen. Then we tried to find each other’s objects. Nobody wanted to stop. This cost $0 and took 35 minutes.
A kid named Dominic hid his dad’s car keys. His dad was very calm about this. I do not fully believe he was calm about this.
The Breaking News Moment
Marcus pre-programmed a fake news alert on an old tablet: “LOCAL BIRTHDAY BOY CANCELS OWN PARTY.” This went off during cake. His brother Theo, who is four and cannot read, was briefly very upset. Marcus had to explain it was a prank. Theo said he knew. He did not know.
Full Budget for 11 Kids
Venue: backyard, $0. Three Little Caesars Hot-N-Readys: $18. Cake from the grocery bakery (I asked them to write “Happy Birthday, We Hope” — the lady loved it): $24. Hat station supplies (hats + markers): $19. Juice boxes: $8.
Total: $69. I said it was $83 to three separate people today because I bought two extra pizzas and ate one for dinner. That pizza was good. I’m not sorry.
Why April Fools Day Finally Works
For five years I apologized for Marcus’s birthday. People would RSVP asking if the invitation was a joke. It was not a joke. It was a birthday. This was confusing for everyone.
Marcus has decided the overlap is not a feature problem. It’s a feature. He has a birthday that is actually different from every other kid’s birthday. He knows exactly what day it is every year without checking. No one forgets to text him.
He told me tonight that next year he wants the birthday cake to arrive in a box labeled vegetables. I said fine. He said I had to look disappointed when I opened it. I said I wasn’t sure I could act well enough. He said he’d practice my reaction face in the mirror.
Seven is going to be good.