Pranks

[Smudge]

At the last camp I was at we had to pull pranks during pre-camp before the director thought to ban then.

The last time I was at camp (2004) we carried a heavy fiberglass shower stall around camp the long way to avoid being seen. Then set it up in the door way of the program managers cabin with all their shower stuff in it even though it was disgusting and dirty.

When they found it you could hear the scream across camp. The best part was that one of the program mangers was sitting in our tent telling us about it and I totally acted surprised. The about 6 weeks later she found out it was me and the look on her face was hilarious.

[crbtigger]

One summer I went to the Unit house basement where the younger girls sleep and there are rafters in the basements. I took all the staffs stuff and hung it up on the rafters with rope. Shower caddys, tennis shoes tied together and thrown over, small suit cases, pretty much anything i could find that would hang. It was great, the campers thought it was very funny!

[Smudge]

That sounds like it would hav been really funny.

[Possuumm]

sounds like the time me and my friends found an old flushie toilet in a shed and put it in the middle of the field that's in the middle of the camp...too bad the camp only has limited flushies for staff....

[Smudge]

The camp where were did the shower prank - 2 years before (the year before I was there) some people found a lushie in the middle of the road while driving back to camp on a night off. The spray painted it gold - and thus became the golden flushie. It would get moved around camp and just randomly appear in the morning or during the day in someones unit or the area etc.

[happy_camper]

Smudge -- too funny!! I actually laughed out loud!

At the other GS camp in my area, there is a gnome (can't remember his name) but people will move him around camp randomly. When I was a CIT, one of my fellow CITs dressed him in Build A Bear clothes. Not really a prank, but more of a tradition

[these.city.lights]

Whats a flushie?

Is that what us brits call a potty?

[Smudge]

A flushie is a flushing toilet (or the the main part thereof) as opposed to a latrine or a composting toilet.

So very diff from a protable/chemical toilet.

[these.city.lights]

Ooh ok, if you're wondering a "potty" is what we help young children to learn how to use a toilet.
Dont know if you call it that too?

Just a question, what normally happens if someone takes a prank badly?
Ie, really HATES being the victim of a prank.

[Smudge]

I guess it depends on the person and the type of prank. At my last camp we only ever got to do one prank cos the the Director banned them. I would guess that if you want to prank individuals then you maybe wait a few weeks to get to know the people who will take pranks in the in the manner in which it is meant.

That being said we used to do nice pranks to people - such as hanging sstrings of paper hearts at at peoples doors, filling their room with ballons or sticking balloons and lollypops to their door.

[these.city.lights]

Ahh thats cool.

Im not wondering cos I think I wont take them very well, cos Im quite laid back I think if someone plays a prank on me I'll laugh it off.
Just if someone at the same camp as me got really angry over it it might cause some friction in the camp.

I guess its all about getting to know everyone and then once you're all friends and can laugh about stuff with eachother then you'd know how well or badly they'd take a prank.

Anymore people have anymore prank stories?

[happy_camper]

I think people generally only prank people they are really good friends with. For instance, I am VERY close to 3 other jr counselors at my camp, so we constantly play jokes on eachother and the other counselors in our unit.

But there are other counselors I don't know so well who I wouldn't prank... just because we don't have that kind of relationship.

So I think most pranks you will encounter will be from the staff you have grown close to and the pranks will just be for fun and to make you laugh, not to offend or hurt you!

[crbtigger]

Ahh the great shoe prank of '06
Well this on is kind of long, but 2 counselors decided they were going to be funny and talk most of the other staff into giving them their tennis shoes so they could wear flip flops to flag the next morning. (I am still not quite sure what was going to be funny about that but whatever) Anyway, the CD the nurse and cook and I figured out what the counselors "Secret 2 way radio code" was and we would switch stations when they said the code word and listen to their prank ideas. So the 2 counselors got most staff shoes and they were trying to go into the CD's and I's room to get our shoes but couldn't figure out how, the cd and I stayed up and watched them tie all the shoes together and they were planning on running them up the flag pole. I think they got scared and put them in an unlocked car at the dining hall planning to come back later and left. The cd and i went and got the shoes out of the car and hung them all over the dining hall (we didn't know the counselors were watching us) so when we left they went and collected all the shoes and put them all over our office. Again, we heard them say they were doing this, so i got up really early the next morning and again, collected all the shoes out of the office and put back up in the dining hall. The funniest part was they most of the staff "thought" they were going to be in the office and they all came in looking for their shoes but "alas, where did my shoes go?" Even the 2 counselors that put the shoes in there couldn't figure it out.

[crbtigger]

Another time, some staff went into our office and totally re-arranged everything, moved desks around, moved books, put stuff upside down and then on top of that they toliet papered the entire office. When the cd and i went into the office we just laughed but we couldn't find our office chairs. Then we went up stairs to go to breakfast and there were the office chairs, sitting at the top of the stairs. The campers couldn't really figure out why 2 random office chairs were sitting on the porch outside.

[Smudge]

At my last camp some of the staff completely wrapped one of the programme managers cars in yellow caution tape.

Another time they hung all the sock wars socks from the rafters out side the dining hall.

[Marzz]

Two good pranks:

One summer we had a huge problem with staff sneaking out of their units at night and stealing food from the kitchen. Now we didn't have a problem with them getting food if they were hungry, but they were taking food that was meant for meals and they were leaving their units understaffed. So...one night, the Ad staff decided to put a lock on the walk-in as a joke (and as a warning), but the joke was on us when the next day they couldn't get the lock off because it was old and rusty. We had to get the maintenence guy to blow torch it off. I used to laugh every time I saw the burn marks on the walk-in. Now the kitchen has been rebuilt so the walk-in was replaced, but I still laugh at the thought.

Another prank we did was to the CIT director. We snuk up to her unit during an all-camp and took her tent down but left all the stuff inside exactly as it was. Then, we lined the bare tent frame with "wall paper" we had the kids draw earlier that day. We found a biffy (toilet) that had not yet been installed in one of our new outhouses, so we put that in the middle of the tent with a bouquet of flowers and a poem about having indoor plumbing. It was HILARIOUS! However, we were careful to check the weather before hand because it would not have been so funny if it rained - tents are very difficult to erect when the platform is full of stuff.

[Marzz]

Oh yeah...I almost forgot...the best one yet.

The pool staff lined every inch of the pool director's cabin floor with little dixie cups 1/2 filled with water while she was sleeping. Her revenge was to put one of the pool counselor's beds out in the middle of the flagpole area. She reconstructed her space exactly as it was in the tent, but in the middle of the field.

[KiwiCRB]

Ahh the great shoe prank of '06
Well this on is kind of long, but 2 counselors decided they were going to be funny and talk most of the other staff into giving them their tennis shoes so they could wear flip flops to flag the next morning. (I am still not quite sure what was going to be funny about that but whatever) Anyway, the CD the nurse and cook and I figured out what the counselors "Secret 2 way radio code" was and we would switch stations when they said the code word and listen to their prank ideas. So the 2 counselors got most staff shoes and they were trying to go into the CD's and I's room to get our shoes but couldn't figure out how, the cd and I stayed up and watched them tie all the shoes together and they were planning on running them up the flag pole. I think they got scared and put them in an unlocked car at the dining hall planning to come back later and left. The cd and i went and got the shoes out of the car and hung them all over the dining hall (we didn't know the counselors were watching us) so when we left they went and collected all the shoes and put them all over our office. Again, we heard them say they were doing this, so i got up really early the next morning and again, collected all the shoes out of the office and put back up in the dining hall. The funniest part was they most of the staff "thought" they were going to be in the office and they all came in looking for their shoes but "alas, where did my shoes go?" Even the 2 counselors that put the shoes in there couldn't figure it out.

Just for the record they never told us WHY they were taking the shoes they just didn't really give us the option. And you put my bubba keg up the flag pole! Haha violent knocking...

[crbtigger]

yes, kiwi i am glad you stated that for the record, I didn't really understand it, but it turned out to be funny!
Kegs on the flag pole was classic and the campers even knew about that one before the staff did.

Oh ok, here is a REALLY GOOD one.
I found a bunch of small battery powered alarm clocks and set them to all go off at different times (i.e, 2 a.m., 3a.m., 4a.m.....) and then hid them very well in the cabin that 2 counselors were staying in. So you can only guess what happened after that. Needless to say they looked pretty tired the next morning.. hehe

I guess you can tell i love pranks, we do have rules about pranks that we go over during training. They can't involve the campers, you can't "steal" someones things, you can "move them to a temporary location in a timely manner, (i.e. bubba kegs kiwi) and they can't be mean or harmful. Pranks are all in good fun and will be discontinued for the remainder of the summer if these rules are broken.

[crbtigger]

Smudge, What are "sock wars"? Sounds interesting, we might need to try it!

[Smudge]

You divide an indoor area into 2 courts then you put about 25 pairs of bundled socks in each court (or more if you have them). YOu then divide up the campers - we used to do it as an all camp activity so we would have one unit against another (or 2 small units agains a bigger unit) and also the staff could create a team. Each team is assigned a side of the court and they stand in it facing the other team. Everyone else stands round the outside the court. The rules are simple if you are hit by a sock thrown by the other team you are out. Then on the whistle the two teams start throwing socks at each other. The team who has all their players out first loses. The kids love it - especially when they get to play against their counsellors.

[Possuumm]

I LOOOOOOOOOOVE Sock wars! we used to do that in my elementary school! they're fun...and much safer than dodgeball....

[Smudge]

yeah- they are fun - if you have enough socks to play with.

Played a variation of it with cups at brownies.

set up the same way with the court. The u set out plastic cups some the right way up and some upside down. One team then has to right the cups and the other team has to turn them upside down. The winner is the team with the most cups turned there way.

[Angel_Jenny]

I know a different sock game which I found fun! Everyone playing takes of one sock and has it hanging out back of trousers (pants) or alternatively just half take the sock off so its hanging of foot (not over heel). All players are on hands and knees and the idea is to pinch the socks from the other person without allowing yours to be taken (speed ;) ) When your sock is gone you are "out" and the winner is last one with it!! :)

[Smudge]

sounds fun.

[Smudge]

We had loads of pranks this summer. What about everyone else?

One of the best to prepare cos we had the waterfront and adventure directors in on it was pulled during pre-camp. We filled the camp directors yurt with more than 400 balloons - which took us all day and 3 shopping trips to do - by the time we had gotten back from the third trip (which included going out for dinner) and had inflatted the last batch of balloons we were working by head lights on the porch of the yurt and just throwning them in as we blew them up. Then 2 days later the camp director, who hadn't burst the balloons cos they "looked so pretty" was kept up all night cos she could here 2 mice (she is afraid of them) but could see them to get rid of them.

There were loads more pranks, including egging the cabin of a the group that had TP'd my girls cabin - egging at our camp is taking white paper and drawing large broken eggs, cutting them out and sticking them to the cabin with tape. Forking the lower field with hundreds of plastic forks, stealing the noses of the tree faces, setting up a dinning table completely set on the further out floating dock, the boats going to "visit" the old waterfront director (now assistant director) - each morning for a week various boats were carried from the waterfront to tent city, where she lived, given sad faces with duct tape and left right outside the door of her tent. I am sure that there were more pranks I just cant think of any.

I hope you guys all had as much fun at camp this summer.

PS I know it is not a prank but one of my fellow unit leaders managed fit 18 marshmallows in her mouth in fit of first session madness which lead to fluffy bunnies - I made a video of the whole thing but unfortunately it was on one of the memory cards that was stole at the end of the summer.

[Ave]

thats really funny about the egging.. i really have to remener that one...

[CampFreak]

Pranks might be banned but it doesn't stop anyone. We have cabin on cabin pranks which usually involves shaving cream in some way. On some days we have an early bird game at 7 and sometimes they get everyone who wakes up for it to run arond the camp to the other cabins and sing songs and bang the walls as loud/hard as possible.

Staff on staff pranks were usually a lot worse but done when campers have gone home for the week. This past year there was a staff afraid to be by herself. So one night the staff turned the power off to her cabin, used a sling shot to launch rock son top of her cabin and one staff member was 400 feet behind her cabin and screamed like crazy. Other pranks ust involve squirt guns or other various smelly things.

[Smudge]

We had loads this summer! During precamp we (and by we I mean half the staff including the waterfront and adventure directors and both AD's and the CIT director) filled the directors yurt with over 400 ballons - which was a mission and a half - but fun especially when we were standing out side the yurt at 11pm in the dark blowing up ballons by torch light. These balloons were then used for
4th July, and what was left were put in the dream workers cabin, and then they put them in the ad staff portapotty! A table and benches - complete with cockery and silverware were set up on one of the floating docks, the lower field was forked, we "egged" another cabin - that is the girls spent me time drawing egg slaps and then when the other group were away from the unit we covered their cabin "eggs". The program managers car was covered in postits with things like "we're watching you" and pictures of cartoon eyes - which would have been funny except that it rained during the night and they all stuck to the car!

[laurathistle]

We don't do pranks but on the last day of the session is international polar bearing day where everyone is encouraged to polar bear. All the staff who are readers (me!) get to wake the rest of the camp up using trash can lids and sticks to make as much noise as possible.

[Smudge]

Bet you enjoyed that!

[laurathistle]

Oh yes! It was kinda like revenge for all those times during reader when they were making noise, not paying attention and generally being rude!

[Smudge]

I am sure it did!

[Strand]

Our camp's rule is this: If anyone falls asleep with there shoes on, they are fair game. (Shaving cream, magic marker, duct tape, ext...)


Best one I ever saw involved taking the councilors' pants and attaching them to the flag polls. There were at least 20 pairs of pants on the pole at one time.

My favorite one was never putting the drain plugs on any of the boats.

[Camp_cullen_freak_2004]

once we took my counslers barney bedding and hung it from the flag pole

[KiwiCRB]

I have Strawberry Shortcake bedding!

[ARam_Kelp]

Smudge -- too funny!! I actually laughed out loud!

At the other GS camp in my area, there is a gnome (can't remember his name) but people will move him around camp randomly. When I was a CIT, one of my fellow CITs dressed him in Build A Bear clothes. Not really a prank, but more of a tradition

Our camp did this too last summer. We had one group of kids carry around the knome and take pictures of it everywhere.

One year when I was camper the counselors of one unit pranked all the other units staff cabins. The filled one with dixie cups of water, one was completely webbed with dental floss. It was pretty easy to figure out who it was because their staff cabin was untouched.

Also it's not exactly a prank because its approved and everybody has fair warning, but my camp has Kevin Bacon (a rubber fetal pig). During precamp and our day camp week Kevin Bacon is hidden in the staffs possesions. You try to hide Bacon as well as possible. The last person to recieve him has to a lead a song for the rest of the staff. It's good for getting people to get usedd to leading songs.

[Smudge]

once we took my counslers barney bedding and hung it from the flag pole

One year at guide camp we manage to get hold of one of our leaders bras and run it up the flag pole - and to make things worse we even made up a song to go with it - we werent very nice to her - strange that she isn't involved anymore!

[Melk]

This is a pic of our prank we did as an LIT group... We look so pissed because we had to wake up at 4:30 am to move all the tables and chairs out of the lodge and to where we line up before meals.... people were so confused when they came for breakfast.

[Cocoa]

we tp eachothers classrooms, hide stuff on eachother etc. simple things - sometimes the regular campers that are there almost all summer get in on it too

[dazn01]

Hey so the latest prank that i've done was last year one of the other counselors was slackin a bit and it was time for pay back.

him and most of our staff takes a night out on the same day. so me and one of the few counselors left in camp decided to make his bed for him... we have metal cots with foam mattress's so we then saran wrapped his sleeping bag to his cot and proceded to hoist it up a tree till it was about 30ft off the ground. then tied it off and cut the slack.

he wasn't all too happy when he came back at like 2 in the morining and his cot was 30ft in the air.


future plans are to assemble a wooden picnic table around a flag pole, randomly pass on a toilet between the 3 camps on reservation.