Toilet Paper a House

Ever wanted to prank a friend? Get someone back for being mean? Toilet papering is a fun, harmless prank that can be remembered as a thrilling experience for years to come. A night gets a lot more epic when you're loaded to the gills with toilet paper. Take care to consider the risks, and learn to stay safe and play smart to ensure that your prank stays harmless and you get away scot-free. See Step 1 for more information.

Steps

Planning Your Prank

1. Select your target. Maybe one of your friends has been sitting a little too high on the horse lately. Maybe your neighbor's Thunderbird woke you up one too many mornings in the last month. Maybe your basketball coach just deserves it. Find someone who deserves and will appreciate a good toilet paper prank, then cue the maniacal prankster laugh.
   • Pick someone convenient, but not too convenient. It might be easy to TP (Toilet Paper) your neighbor after she stole your basketball, but won't you be an obvious suspect? If it's retribution you're after, wait a couple weeks until the suspicion will have died down some.
   • Papering someone's house and yard can be a great and harmless prank, but only so long as you know the person well enough to play a joke on them. Done to strangers, it can seem kind of ominous. Make sure you pick someone who'll take it in good fun. TPing someone you don't know stands more of a chance of getting you into trouble. Spread fun mischief, not cruelty.
2. Assemble your crew. Toilet-paper team, assemble! You want enough kids to have fun and cause havoc, but not too many so you become conspicuous. A good group should be more than two, but probably less than five or six people to be on the safe side.
   • Going on a TP run can be a great way to build teamwork and share fun experiences. Friends from school or teammates on a sports team make excellent TP companions. Staying out late and getting into some good-natured fun is a great way to build camaraderie.
   • Plan a TP mission for a sleepover you've got planned to get people in the same place at the same time, or else stick with a group that all lives close to the same neighborhood and find a target equally close to everyone.
   • No snitches. Don't invite anyone who'll cloud the evening with bad vibes and second-guessing. If you've got a good friend you want to invite, but he isn't into mischief, let him stay home tonight.
3. Collect an arsenal of premium-grade TP. Rolling a house isn't the time to go cheap, or buy weak post-consumer trash. Go big! Get some solid two-ply or you might as well stay home. You'll likely need at least a few rolls per person. The more the better.
   • The best kind of toilet paper to get is double rolls. It lasts much longer, so you can usually get 4 or 5 throws over a moderately sized tree, and the heavier weight makes it easier to throw accurately. In addition a single cheap roll of toilet paper will only get 2 or 3 throws over a tree.
   • Buy your stash well before dusk, and try to hit up a few different stores to avoid looking suspicious buying toilet paper at 10:00 at night with ten other kids dressed in hoodies. For the safest choice, have everyone buy their TP separately to avoid looking conspicuous.
4. Settle on a time to meet up and complete the prank. It should be late enough to avoid suspicion, but not so late you'll be conspicuous. Probably don't pick 7:30, when neighbors are still up and walking their dogs. Be sure to get information on how late the neighborhood usually stays up. This can be very useful, and sometimes not knowing how late to go can be very embarrassing when you show up somewhere with a bunch of bags. 12:30 or 1 is a nice round hour for toilet paper.
   • Many towns have curfews for underage kids. Find out if your town has one, and try to stay close to the time-limit, or you risk getting into extra trouble if you get caught. This is usually the reason cops find a reason to get involved in simple pranks.
   • If it is during summer, pick a weekday, when most adults will go to bed pretty early. During the rest of the year, it is good to pick a night when you have the following day off school. The day before Spring Break, or days during Presidents' Weekend are very good days to hit.
5. Do some recon work. During the daylight hours, take a walk around the neighborhood of the home you're planning to hit. Make sure that there are no obvious 24-hour security cameras, or barking dogs to worry about. If it looks particularly difficult, it's better to find out when you're not there in the middle of the night with a bag full of toilet paper and shaving cream. Save yourself enough time to find another target.
6. Plan to make a mess, but nothing permanent. Toilet paper is a funny prank, but vandalism is a crime. While it's true there's a fine line, it's important to know that line and to stay on the right side of it, or you risk getting into serious trouble. That means you need to leave the eggs and the spray paint at home.
   • Don't tag someone's house with especially cruel or taunting language. A good TP job is funny and probably somewhat embarrassing for the victim, but it shouldn't be mean-spirited.
7. Understand the risks and the potential problems. While there's not generally a law against "TP-ing" anywhere in the books, littering, trespassing, and vandalism are all illegal, and toilet-papering the wrong house is likely to get you in trouble, with the homeowner and with the police.
   • Sneaking into someone's yard in the middle of the night to TP their house might arouse sleepy and grumpy gun-owners, under the impression they're being robbed. Trespassing carries with it grave risk.

Sneaking Like a Pro

1. Make a pact to keep quiet. Before you all head out for your mischief, plan out who is going to be in charge of which area of the yard, who will carry the different items, and how long you're going to take before you call it quits. Plan your prank as specifically as possible, so you don't have to talk much at the scene. When you get there, keep quiet and work fast to avoid getting into trouble.
   • If you must speak, employ the use of "code names." Homeowners have caught TPers because they heard the TPers calling their friends "by name" in the yard. Naturally the TPers are usually known by members of the victimized household. Might as well pick a rad one, like Snake Jam or Sheamus.
   • Put all phones on vibrate, and never take them out while you're working.You don't want an alarm go off at an awkward time, or to light up the yard with iPhone glow. If possible, don't take your phone at all!
   • If someone sneezes, or you trip over a stick, don't worry too much. No one is going to get up in the middle of the night for a minor noise. They will, however, wake up and look out the window if the noise persists. So stop the noise ASAP, but don't run away until there's a good reason.
2. Layer dark clothes with lighter colors underneath. A black hoodie might be the perfect top for creeping, but think beyond the camo. If you have to take off running, you'll be able to duck around a corner and take off your dark top layer to stash it, as long as you've got something different underneath. Then you will be seen wearing a new light color, tricking people who might end up in pursuit.
   • Instead of black, wear navy blue clothing and shoes. You can also wear dark greens, brown, and greys to keep with the dark theme. Everyone dressed all in black tends to look pretty suspicious, so don't dress in comical costumes like you're going to rob a bank in a movie. No ski-masks, please.
3. Wear running shoes. They call 'em sneakers for a reason. If you need to run on pavement you'll need some good and comfortable athletic shoes. Leave the wedges and the flip-flops at home. Anyone who decides to pop out of the house might not have shoes on, so if they want to give chase, you'll likely be able to out run them on the concrete.
4. Get your creep on. Stay quiet, walk quiet, and and move fast. It's better to walk to the house, but if you're too far away to walk and end up in a car, park around the corner and approach from different directions. A gang of black-clad teenagers carrying toilet paper looks suspicious to someone glancing out their window.

Throwing Technique

1. Pull a long arm's length of toilet paper from the roll. You didn't intend to just drop a bunch of TP on the grass, did you? To make sure you get as much paper off the roll and into the trees as quickly as possible, pull off a good {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of paper and grasp the end firmly in your non-throwing hand. In the other hand, hold the roll itself.
   • You can also pull a couple feet off and let the end sit at your foot, secure it in place with your foot on the ground.
   • You don't have to hold onto the end of the paper at all, if you choose not too, but it's a good way to make sure you won't just lob the whole roll into the tree without it unraveling.
2. Spin the roll, don't chuck it. You can waste a lot of valuable time if you don't throw the roll properly, so it unrolls as it flies. It should be more like a football and less like a dead duck. Hold the roll with the paper trailing back off the top of your hand, as you cock your arm back, then let it roll off your fingertips when you throw it at your target, so the end stays at your feet, or in your other hand, and the roll unrolls over the tree of your choice.
3. Aim above where you want to paper. Start with a tree with some good branch candidates. Throw the roll above the branches you want to paper, so it trails up and over beautifully, and plunks on the ground on the other side.
   • Aim low and aim high. If the branches are too high, or too thick, it is possible to get the roll stuck. Try not to worry too much, but aim at a more high-probability target with your next roll.
   • If you only get the lower branches, it can easily be taken down. You want your hard work to stay for at least a couple days, right? Get creative.
4. Pick it up and throw it back over. Work your way around the tree until the roll runs out. The best TP jobs are like the work of an intricate spider, going back through the branches, between multiple trees, wrapping around the car and then back through the first tree. Use as much of each roll as you can. Don't leave rolls sitting on the ground. Mummify that tree!
5. Work together. You don't necessarily have to chase down all your rolls. If your friend's lands at your feet, toss it back over to keep the process going smoothly and quickly. The resulting TP job will look more random and chaotic that way, an ideal outcome.

Spreading the Wealth

1. Vary your targets. The trees are the first, best, and most-obvious target. But a truly great toilet-papering takes no prisoners. Within a single roll, you can get creative and try to hit as many different places as possible, or use many rolls to super-coat every single target you paper.
2. Create a car shell. Waking up to find a couple rolls of toilet paper in one of your trees isn't that big of a deal. It'll only take a few minutes to clean up. Imagine waking up to find your car completely surrounded by TP. That's more like it.
   • If you can, bring a spray bottle or a bottle of water, wet the surface of the car with it before wrapping the car, rolling the paper underneath and going back up and over. Getting the bottom layer soggy will create a sloppy, clingy mess, but not any permanent damage.
3. Wrap fences, lawn ornaments, and bushes. Secure the end of the roll at one end of a fence and weave the rest of the roll through it, wrapping around individual posts and between them. Do the same things for any decorative bushes that might line the yard.
4. Rip small pieces of toilet paper off the roll and scatter them all over the lawn. Lots and lots of small pieces are super-annoying.
5. Spell out words with toilet paper. 5 letters or less. Celebratory slogans are preferable, like "You lose," or something stupid, like "DUDE."
   • Nothing mean or cruel. This is a prank, not vandalism. Leaving cruel slogans or taunts is a good way to get in trouble with the cops, if it could be considered a threat.
6. Go for the hail mary in the final minutes. The holy grail of the TP job is getting the roll all the way over the house. This absolutely has to be the last part of the job, however, because the plunk of TP on the roof can cause a racket that'll get you caught. You need to be very careful and get your best thrower on the job, or all do it at the same time to see who can throw the farthest. Then take off running.

Getting Dirty

1. Introduce shaving cream into the equation. Bring along a couple cans of cheap shaving cream to spray on the yard, or to use to stick toilet paper to the trees. It can be risky, because the cans make a loud sound, but if you do it quick and dirty, you can get away with it. Give shaving cream smiley faces to the shrubbery.
   • Make a weirdo pile of wadded-up toilet paper and shaving cream in the middle of the yard, like a goo mountain. Nobody will want to stick their hands into it to clean it up.
   • Never use shaving cream on cars, the house, windows, or driveways, because it can cause stains that might cause permanent damage. That would up your prank to a misdemeanor. Don't do it.
2. Bring along an assortment of garbage. Instead of taking out the garbage the night before you going on your TP run, save it. Dump it in the middle of the yard. Banana peels, apple cores, candy wrappers. It'll be a chore for someone else to clean up.
   • Make sure there's no incriminating evidence, like a telephone bill with your name on it, before you hand it over to the enemy.
3. Rearrange lawn furniture. Stack the chairs in the yard, or line them all up facing the street. Put the gnomes and lawn geese up on the porch after wrapping them up with toilet paper and give them shaving cream mustaches.
4. Leave forks. A common homecoming week prank is to leave a bunch of forks stuck into someone's yard, as if the yard had suddenly sprouted utensils in the moonlight. Plastic forks are fine, or you can collect cheap dime-store forks for a couple weeks leading up to your big prank.
   • If you want to fork someone, assign the job to one person in your crew, because it can take a while to do right. try to line them up as straight and as uniform as possible for the maximum effect.
5. Ding and ditch. Are you brave enough to ring the doorbell at the end of the night? If so, have everyone else in the group take off around the corner and have your most courageous toilet paper warrior brave the long steps up to the front door. Done properly, it can be the best and most satisfying nightcap.

Tips

• If you fork someones yard check to see if its going to frost in the morning, if so the forks will break when the owner tries to pull them up.
• NEVER forget your supplies. If someone runs out of the house to scare you off, always grab it so you have a second shot later. Assign someone fast this job.
• If there is snow, walk backwards to sidetrack them and make them think you went the opposite way.
• Be careful with houses that contain bay windows especially if you would be easily seen through them
• Travel in two or more groups so you won't end up by yourself.
• WRAP the fence,weave it,cover it!
• Buy some normal tissue you blow your nose with, and spread it all over the lawn. Also, the little squares make it easy to make letters to write things.
• Also be aware of the house. Are any lights on? Are the windows open? Keep in mind you can still TP them without being caught, you should just be extra careful.
• Take pictures at the end to admire at home, then leave because the flash might wake up the owners. If anything is questionable, do it at the end! Just a warning, DO NOT put these pictures online, someone could turn them in and you could get caught.
• Don't egg houses or cars or put peanut butter on the victim's garage doors, this results in stains and it peels the paint off of cars.
• Don't ever throw eggs at houses or cars, it will take the paint off things. That is considered vandalism. You could have fines, and a criminal record for that.
• Be quick, but don't leave without admiring your work. Make sure not to get caught with your guard down while you're doing this.
• Never brag about TPing a house in public. You could get caught if the victims offspring or friends are there.
• Don't take too long. Try to do this as fast as you can because if somebody that you're not TPing spots you, they will call the neighbors and tell them that they're being toilet papered.
• If you hear a noise drop and freeze. do not panic. if you panic, she/he will find you and the prank will fail. just lay down and freeze until he/she takes the bait.
• Always try to have some meet out place or hide out no where near the victims house . If there is snow try to lead the to somebody else's house or make 2 tracks. Don't do it on somebody you hate because it becomes very obvious . Try to always have a back up plan, tell your parents that you going some where not a specific place. That means they will not try to find you tell them your going to a friends house if where make sure the family of that house is gone for a while so nobody answers your mom or dad's questions . It has to be on a day before there big party Maybe a month or 2. So they have time to clean up. Don't leave your name if your going to write stuff with TP or they find out. Make sure that they don't have weapons or dogs they will fire or bark.
• On a larger house, use about 15-25 rolls, and use about 5-14 on a smaller one.

Warnings

• Trespassing, littering, and vandalism are all illegal activities that could get you into serious trouble with the police. Toilet-paper at your own risk.

Things You'll Need

• Backpack or trash bag
• Lookout spot
• Place to hide toilet paper
• Dark clothing
• Toilet paper
• A flag to mark victory
• Forks to stick in the front yard.

Related Articles

• Buy a Toilet
• Walk Silently
• Sneak Around at Night
• Help a Friend Who Gets Arrested in the Middle of the Night
• Wrap a Toilet Seat As a Prank

Sources and Citations

See also

• Play a Prank
• Make Fake Vomit
• Pie Someone in the Face
• Moon Someone
• Make a Beginner Boobie Trap
• Make Fake Diarrhea
• Play Office April Fool's Day Pranks
• Make a Fake Cast
• Prank Your Mom
• Rick Roll Someone

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What links here

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