Donna’s Day: April Fools’ Day fun

Have you ever had a crazy, mixed-up day where life feels upside down, backward and inside out?

With April Fools’ Day around the corner, start planning some capers and silly surprises to create such an off-kilter day for your family. You’ll be making memories the kids will never forget.

Here are some ideas to get the wacky side of your brain stimulated for April 1:

• Come to the breakfast table wearing clothes inside out and backward.

• Say common phrases backward, such as “Fools April Happy.”

• Make school sandwiches inside out, with bread on the inside and cold cuts and mustard on the outside.

• Write a lunchbox note with letters reversed in each word.

• Walk to the bus stop backward, or if you carpool, sing a round, such as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” backward.

• Serve dinner with dessert first and make it an ice-cream sundae — upside down, of course. Here’s how: Set a maraschino cherry, which would normally be at the top of the sundae, at the bottom of a parfait glass. Wedge a round cookie to fit snuggly near the bottom just above the cherry. Carefully break off the outer edge to fit if necessary. Add big dollops of whipped cream on the cookie. Finally, add ice-cream scoops. Set spoon upside down in the ice cream and serve the upside-down sundae.

• At bedtime, read a backward fairy tale to your kids. Have you ever cheated and read the last page of a book first, just to see how it all comes out? Maybe that is why “The End” by David LaRochelle is so delightful, because he does it for you, no guilt. The book starts at the end of the story and cleverly explains why the book ends, or begins, the way it does. Confused? Your child will find it great fun, but please don’t read the last page first. Start from the beginning, which is the end — I think.