How to Make Easy DIY Booby Traps

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Set up your own homemade booby traps and practical jokes

Co-authored by Saul Jaeger, MS and Luke Smith, MFA

Last Updated: June 9, 2025 Fact Checked

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Booby Trap Pranks

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Home Security Traps

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Are booby traps illegal?

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Why are they called booby traps?

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Q&A

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Booby traps are the best kind of prank, since you can set them up way ahead of time, then know your work paid off when you hear your victim’s surprise. Although you shouldn't count on booby traps as any real form of a defense, they can be a fun and creative form of mischief. We’ll show you how to make some simple traps, and how to protect your home more seriously.

Best Booby Trap Idea

Fill a plastic cup with water, then balance it on top of a door that’s just barely cracked open. Lean it slightly against the doorframe, if you can. When someone walks through the door, the cup of water will fall on them, splashing them as a harmless prank!

Section 1 of 4:

Setting up Fun Booby Trap Pranks

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1
Place a cup of cold water on top of the door. Fill a small, lightweight cup with cold water. Choose a door, and open it just slightly. Stand on a stable chair and balance the cup on top of the door. Make it so that the cup is just barely shifted toward the door frame while still being balanced. When the intruder goes to push the door open, the water will fall right on their head!^{[1]
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- Avoid using buckets of water. Buckets of water are heavy, and you can seriously hurt someone. A plastic cup, though, is enough to get them wet without hurting them.
- Or, to make it so that the door is closed, duct tape the far rim of the cup to the wall, so that the door knocks the bottom of the cup away when it’s opened.
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Tape saran wrap across the doorframe. Get some clear plastic wrap and cut off a length that spans the doorframe. Pull it tight, then use clear tape to secure it across the doorframe at about head level. Do your best to make sure there are no wrinkles, so that the saran wrap is basically invisible. When someone walks into the room, they’ll get a face full of plastic!^{[2]
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- Stake out in the room or set up a phone recording video so that you can see the moment when it happens.
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Get some Pop-Its, those little snappers you throw at the ground to make a crackling noise. Sprinkle some under the welcome mat of your home, then gently lay the welcome mat over them. When someone comes to your house, they’ll step on the mat and pop the snappers, giving them a little jump.
Find a bottle of juice or soda in the fridge that’s already been opened. Then, near the top of the bottle, use a thumbtack to poke several holes around the sides. When someone goes to pour themselves a glass, the juice or soda will leak all over!
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Make someone spray themselves with the sink hose. Here’s a classic! All you need to do is wrap a rubber band around the spray hose of your kitchen sink. Make sure it’s aimed toward someone who might use it. The next time anyone turns on the water, they’ll get a surprising spray.^{[3]
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- This trap is great because it’s pretty harmless. Nobody gets hurt, just a little wet.
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Put saran wrap over the toilet. This is part prank, part booby trap. All you need to do is lift up the toilet seat and cover the inside of the toilet with saran wrap, then set the seat back down. Try to avoid leaving any creases in the saran wrap—you want it to look as see-through as possible.
- Next time someone goes to use the restroom, they’ll get a messy surprise. Just be sure it’s not you! (Also, be ready to clean up any mess.)
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Rig a balloon to pop when someone opens a door. This one gives someone quite a scare when they enter a room. Just tape a tack or a pin to the doorknob, then tape an inflated balloon to the wall where the doorknob would touch it when the door opens. When someone enters the room, the pin will pop the balloon and give a huge, terrifying BANG!
- Just don’t do this to someone with heart problems—it could scare them too much.
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Shake up a can of soda. This one’s dead simple, but super effective. Find an unopened can of soda, shake it up real good for 30-60 seconds, then just leave it in the fridge. When someone tries to steal your soda, they’ll be in for quite the sticky surprise. All that shaking makes the soda more likely to bubble and fizz everywhere.^{[4]
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- This works best if you shake it up right before they open it, so shake the soda just before your victim comes home.
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Hot glue eggs to the counter. Here’s another simple one. Find a stone countertop in your house, or a surface that hot glue won’t damage. Then, use a hot glue gun to add just a dab of hot glue to the side of an egg, then stick it to the counter. When someone goes to pick up the egg, it’ll stick and crack as they try to pull it away.
- Stone countertops are best, since you can more easily peel off the hot glue when you’re done. Countertops like linoleum or even wood may get damaged, though.
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Use a greeting card to add a noisy alarm to your diary. Find the loudest, most annoying musical greeting card you can—the ones that start singing or talking when you open them. Then, just tape the greeting card on the inside of the front cover of your journal, so that when someone opens it, it starts talking, and you know that someone’s snooping.
- It’s even better if you can get a greeting card that lets you record a message yourself, like, “Hey! Put the diary down!”
- When you want to open your journal yourself, just slip a finger inside and undo the tape before you open it.
This is a quick and easy in-the-moment booby trap. If someone you want to prank is taking a hot shower, run over and turn the hot water off, so that they’re blasted with frigid water. Just be sure you’re far away by the time they realize what’s happened.

Section 2 of 4:

Installing a Basic Home Security Alarm

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Install a motion-sensing noise alarm to your front door. These days, basic noise alarms are common and cheap. Usually, these adhere to your door or door frame and are armed with the push of a button. Then, when someone opens the door, they make a loud noise that alerts you to intruders. They’re a simple and practical solution to home security.
- Installation and operating instructions vary by model, so consult your alarm's instructions included in the box.
- Or, check out our more detailed guide on making a DIY alarm.
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Install a video doorbell for a more high-tech solution. Police captain Sgt Jaeger says a visible security camera goes a long way toward deterring intruders.^{[5]
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Expert Source

Saul Jaeger, MS
Police Captain, Mountain View Police Department

Expert Interview} Video doorbells like Ring offer a little more security, with a video feed that you access on your phone. If someone makes unwanted visits, the doorbell will alert you, and also record the event. They’re relatively cheap and easy to install.
- Ring doorbells are often mounted near your door with screws or adhesive. Consult the included installation instructions.
While it might seem like more aggressive or dangerous traps are the best way to deter burglars and other criminals, the reality is that you might be held responsible if they do end up hurting someone, as demonstrated by a number of court cases related to booby traps.^{[6]
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Research source} Sgt. Jaeger reminds us that often, a visible camera is enough to get thieves to leave you alone.^{[7]
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Expert Source

Saul Jaeger, MS
Police Captain, Mountain View Police Department

Expert Interview}

EXPERT TIP

Saul Jaeger, MS
Personal Safety Officer
Saul Jaeger is a Police Officer and Captain of the Mountain View, California Police Department (MVPD). Saul has over 17 years of experience as a patrol officer, field training officer, traffic officer, detective, hostage negotiator, and as the traffic unit’s sergeant and Public Information Officer for the MVPD. At the MVPD, in addition to commanding the Field Operations Division, Saul has also led the Communications Center (dispatch) and the Crisis Negotiation Team. He earned an MS in Emergency Services Management from the California State University, Long Beach in 2008 and a BS in Administration of Justice from the University of Phoenix in 2006. He also earned a Corporate Innovation LEAD Certificate from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2018.

Saul Jaeger, MS
Personal Safety Officer

Security cameras today are relatively cheap. They’re even wireless now. You can get a package of them at Costco, hook them up quickly, and have a whole bunch of cameras. Having them up will make you less of a target.

Section 3 of 4:

Is it illegal to set up booby traps?

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You could be held responsible for any injuries or damage. If you’re just setting up a harmless prank that won’t hurt anyone, you’re in the clear. But if you’re trying to defend your home with more aggressive force, like blunt force, automated weapon traps, or hazardous chemicals, you might want to think twice. In some cases, people who used violent booby traps were taken to court or arrested for harming another person or their property.^{[8]
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- If you do want to set up your own home security, it’s best to hire a professional service or to only use non-violent traps, like noise makers.

Section 4 of 4:

Why are they called booby traps?

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They’re called that because only a fool, or “booby,” would fall for them. A “booby” is a someone who’s dumb or stupid.^{[9]
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Research source} So a “booby trap” is a trap that will work on someone who’s stupid, or at least not prepared to be fooled by a trap.
- Booby traps were famously used during the Vietnam war, when Vietcong soldiers set up various traps that often worked against enemy troops, who weren’t used to navigating the Vietnamese landscape.^{[10]
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My sister is invasive and I want to make a boobie-trapped diary decoy to alert me if she invades my privacy. Are there any ways I can make a trap to alert me without noise in case she reads at night?

Community Answer

Hide your real diary and make a fake one to put where the real one usually is. Fill the fake diary with paper dots from a hole punch so your sister makes a mess when she opens it.

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What are some boobie traps similar to putting cling film on the toilet?

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A similar trick is putting the film on the doorway so when someone tries to walk through he will get caught and be annoyed.

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How do I annoy my sister?

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Whenever she says a word, make an obnoxious noise. Keep doing it until she tells your parents. Stop for a few minutes, then start doing it again.

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Tips

Choose a victim who will take it well. People who are clumsy, easily startled, or sensitive could be upset by a trap, and that's no fun for anyone.

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Don't play a prank you wouldn't want to be played on you!

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