04/01/2026
April Fool's Day 2026 at Griggs County Care Center in Cooperstown, ND was nothing short of hilarious!
The best part of the day happened at our coffee shop hour.
Coffee shop hour is pretty predictable usually. Coffee. Tea. Pop. And a treat of some sweet kind.
Today though, when all of the residents were busy eating lunch, the Joyology Dept. were busy printing off multiples of the capital letter "E."
While Rikki went to get the towel folders motivated to fold... Jodi Rae very busily started coloring in all the "E's" with brown Sharpie marker. She almost ran out of time!
15 minutes before coffee shop-we plated the "E's" and provided an eating utensil set just so on each plate. The residents arrived.
We served everyone coffee and pop first. At last, the plates with the "E's" were served all at once. We had a video camera on to catch the residents reactions to their mysterious afternoon snacks.
Just look at their tilted heads and facial contortions of wonderment! 😍🤣😍🤣
"What is this?" 🤷🏼♀️
"How are we supposed to eat this?"🤷🏻♀️
"Is this etible?"🤷🏿♂️
"Is it a new kind of chocolate?" 🤷🏽
We giggled at their reactions until one daring resident licked it and said, "Tastes like paper to me!"
So we began asking questions to them.
"What is it?"
Nobody knew. Silence deafened the dining room as blank stares consumed all of them.
One resident said, "Is it a new kind of egg? Egg starts with E."
So we asked, "What letter is it?"
In unison they answered, "E."
Next we asked, "What color is it?"
In unison, they answered, "Brown."
We asked again, "So what is it that you're getting for snack today?"
One resident answered inquizitively, "Paper?" 👀
Nope!
So we asked again, "What color is it?" They all agreed it was brown.
"What letter is it?"
Now, it was becoming obvious they were all frustrated and they yelled, "E!"
So what are you eating?
Nadine had enough and yelled, "An elephant!" 🐘
Nope!
One last time in succession they were asked the color and the letter.
💡 The light bulbs went off alllllll at once as they screamed, "Brown E!"
We spent a good 8 minutes cackling about it being our April Fool's joke!
BrownE's for everyone!
Then we served the real desert, a very decadent oreo cookie mousse that was very complimentary to our palettes!
Enjoy the facial contortions of some of the residents by looking at the photos.
Thomas the world's best jokster and prankster even complimented us! Victory!
No fool'in! GCCC is a place where real brownies and fake brown "E's" all taste divine because love and laughter makes all things good! Right?
Did you play or experience any fun April Fool's pranks that you could share with us?
Haa! This day was exceptional!
