Dear family… it was me all along. To everyone else, welcome to my Christmas Day confession.
What you are about to read is a revelation that has been over a year in the making. It is a story about a Jurassic prank on my family and how I planned, executed, and am still carrying it out to this day.
Now, I would like to welcome you all on a little journey to Jurassic Prank.
The Beginning
On May 25th, 2022, I was out of work and bored. So, I did what any sane person does; I ordered a pack of 75 dinosaurs to hide randomly around my house. I wanted to invite some fun into our stressed-out daily lives, and this seemed like the way to go on the cheap. I wasn’t prepared for the life it would take.
I picked the dinosaurs specifically because they are just small enough that our toy poodle would not consider them a snack but not big enough that they would be impossible to grab a handful and hide while my husband and son had their back turned. Being hard plastic, it was unlikely they would melt if they found their way into a hot Florida car. (Spoiler alert… they did.)
I made two rules for myself.
- They would not be allowed to be placed in areas where they could be stepped on. (Shoes were okay because they would feel it before walking.)
- No food contamination.
When the little dinos arrived, I stashed them in a purple Animal Crossing bag at my desk in the kitchen, and then I grabbed about 10 and threw them randomly in the house. Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t think we’ve found all of the first 10 yet.
My husband found the first dino, and he was confused. I played along acting just as surprised and confused. My son would find one later in the day and, to keep up appearances, I also “found” one in my bag.
Over time, when I would get bored or depressed, I would randomly grab some dinos and toss them around the house. It gave me something to do and a laugh at my family’s expense. It wasn’t easy keeping my secret, but it has been worth it.
It was my idea to pull down a jar to track how many we had found. As of this writing, all of the dinos have been hidden and my family has found 65 out of 75 little suckers. I’ve gotten surprised a few times because I placed a dino somewhere and enough time had passed that I had forgotten all about it.
The strangest place they’ve been found has been in a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. A few were put out in the open and, for days, my family would look at them and not see them. I’m staring at one as I write this.
Conspiracy Theories Abound
The conspiracy theories have gone from tame to off the wall as to who is responsible for the hidden prehistoric creatures. Interestingly enough, not a single one ever involved me. It is disappointing that they wouldn’t think I’m capable of this level of pranking. On the upside, it’s allowed me to continue to do it for over 19 months.
One of the theories involved one of my nephews trying to hint at my husband taking him to see the new Jurassic Park movie. Ultimately, my mom is the person that “we” have settled on who is responsible. She comes over often and sometimes when my son is home by himself. It would be relatively easy for her to drop them in random places without any of us noticing.
The problem with it being blamed on my mom is that I could only really hide the dinos after she had been by for some reason. Someone might start pointing fingers elsewhere if she didn’t come over for a week. Eventually, I felt safe to hide them anytime because, at one point, my son and husband pointed fingers at each other.
As a joke, I told my husband I should take this prank being played on us and make some money. So I came up with the idea to sell the dinos and do to others what has been getting done to us. And Mail-A-Dino was born.
Mail-A-Dino
Mail-A-Dino is a business venture where I anonymously send dinos to new homes in plain, unmarked envelopes. I have a form that buyers fill out and tell me where to send the dino and if they want a handwritten note inside. I told my husband I was using the ones we found, but, in reality, I had ordered another pack from Amazon. The genius of this was now I could have the little suckers on my desk and my family would still never suspect me because my business is now a front for my pranking.
I will say that I’ve received some fun requests for the handwritten notes (including a Rick Roll), and one person posted a *chef’s kiss* of a Facebook post when they got their dino and started calling out their friends about it. I was a mutual with one of the people called out, so I was able to see it play out in real time. You cannot pay for that kind of testimonial; I’ll tell you that right now.
The Fun Continues
The exciting part of this prank has been the joy it has brought me to watch my family (and a few times surprise myself). It’s fun to watch them find the dinos and see their reactions. I can tell when they are having an off day when a dino doesn’t surprise or excite them.
Well, now we are venturing into the new year and my family has not called me out on the dinos, nor have they found all the ones I’ve hidden. Overall, this has cost me about $15 in supplies but brought a priceless amount of fun and joy to me during a time in my life when I needed it most.
And to my family reading this… good luck finding all the plastic babies I hid while you were sleeping last night… BYYYYYEEEEE!!!
