Some traps are just funny! Family members tell the story over and over, and the listeners still enjoy it because the story is just too darn good! Here are some of the best!
1. The original Christmas trap
We consider the first Christmas trap to be one of the most clever because of the resulting 50 years of tradition. Up late helping Santa put together toys and wrap gifts, Grandpa Palmer wasn’t looking forward to his 4 boys pouncing on his bed at 4 am. So he covered the windows with tarps and turned the clocks back for a few extra hours of sleep. Little did he know, his great-grandchildren would be enjoying the same tradition every Christmas.
2. Tied to his big toe
The title says it all. String tied from the escapes bedroom doors, to dad's big toe. It is pretty difficult to get out of your bedroom, if every time you try to open the door dad starts screaming from two rooms over.
3. The trap that never was
Fooled into believing his parents were using the home’s alarm system as part of the trap, Nathan put weeks of work into fooling said alarm system. Only to find out Christmas morning it had never actually been turned on.
4. A swimming pool retrieval
Here in Arizona, almost every home is equipped with a swimming pool. So of course, most parents cannot resist the urge to use it. Though, warmer than most climates, it is still not an easy task to retrieve a clue or a key from a pool in 40 degree weather.
5. Fiddling with the door knob
One trap that only took 15 minutes to set up, but resulted in one of the most difficult traps of my childhood, was a simple modification to the door knob. By removing the backset inside the door knob, it was impossible to open the door from inside. We did eventually manage it, after almost 2 hours. Resulting in the greatest hours of sleep to hours of trap set up ratio my dad ever got.
6. Held up by a paintball gun
A classic maneuver from Maree’s family. Dozens of trip wires were set up in a hallway. A paintball gun was propped on a pillow on the opposite end of the hallway. Though the paintball gun was never actually loaded or even wired to a trip wire, the illusion was that one wrong turn could result paintball to the face.
7. Caught by a Walkie Talkie
My uncle once used a pair of walkie talkies in his trap. This way he could tell his kids they were caught and to go back to bed without having to get out of bed himself.
8. Surrounded by Mouse Traps
A favorite from Scott and Brenda's family is the year that hundreds of mousetraps were set up on the floors and counter tops. The resulting loss was a hilarious story the family still talks about to this day.