Healthy Family Cookin': Frugal Friday: Healthy, Fun Laughter {And a Fun April Fool's Day joke}

I actually love April Fool's day. I think April Fool's day should be named "Laugh a lot day" or "Share a smile day" or "The Love joke day".

Okay those might be horrible names, but what about the original? The "fool's" part makes it sound like it's a day to be mean to people and make a fool of them. I think April Fool's day is a perfect day for healthy, fun laughter, not horrible practical jokes.

One of the ingredients for a healthy family is laughter. But it has to be the right kind of laughter. Not laughter AT people. That's no good. The healthy kind of laughter is laughter WITH those you love.

Growing up I remember my Dad playing April Fool's day jokes on my Mom. Not every year, but once and a while. Obviously they made an impression on me because I still remember them in detail. I remember she laughed. Like, really laughed.

Today I'm going to share with you one of my most favorite April Fool's Day jokes ever. It's called:

The Pre-sliced Banana

Did you know that bananas come pre-sliced? No? Well this one does. On the outside it looks perfectly normal, but inside...it's all sliced up and ready to eat.

I did this one with my kids a few years ago. We have their reaction on video. They watch it now and we all laugh and laugh. :)

Here's what you do:

The Pre-sliced Banana (An April Fool's Joke)
Printable Instructions

1. Pick your banana. This trick will work best if you select a banana that’s ripe with spots.

2. Get a clean needle and thread. Poke a hole in a corner of the banana about an inch down from the top until it just barely goes through the skin.

3. Then slide the needle through the skin layer to the next corner of the banana. Sometimes there are really big gaps between corners. In that case just go in between two corners. You want no more than about 1/2" between pokes.

4. Pull needle with thread through banana skin, leaving a few inches of tail on the string.

5. Poke the needle back through the last hole you made and then pull it through the peel to the next corner (or about 1/2" distance)

6. Repeat the above steps as needed until you have poked the needle all around the banana and your last hole is the very same hole you started with (the lower right picture shows this - it looks like it's not the same, but the banana peel split just a little, which is completely normal).

7. Now take both ends of the string and gently pull until your string comes out. If you've followed the steps correctly, this should slice the banana inside the peel.

8. Repeat the above steps to slice the banana and two or three more locations.

9. Leave the banana for your unsuspecting person to discover. When they peel it they will be amazed that it's already sliced for them!