April Fools’ Day Apostrophe and Capitalization

Do you write April Fools Day, April Fool’s Day, or April Fools’ Day for correct punctuation? Where does that apostrophe go, and what is capitalized? Let’s find out in this new holiday lesson!

As background, my name is Ms. Marshall and I’ve been an English teacher for nearly twenty years. I’m also an artist, and hand-draw all of the illustrations on this site — including our recent St. Patrick’s Day coloring pages. On to today’s tutorial…

April 1 Punctuation

The tricky part about punctuating the practical joke-filled holiday on April 1 is the question of where the apostrophe goes. As we learned in our Father’s Day apostrophe lesson, putting the apostrophe before the “s” indicates the singular possessive (something belonging to one person), while putting it after the “s” shows plural possessive (something belonging to more than one person).

So which do we use here? Well, unlike St. Patrick’s Day where there’s only one Patrick (singular possessive), there are MULTIPLE fools on April 1 (plural possessive) — so we put the apostrophe AFTER the “s” in order to write the pranksters’ holiday correctly as: April Fools’ Day.

Is “Happy April Fools’ Day” Capitalized?

Now that we have the punctuation set and know that the apostrophe comes at the end of “fools,” a question remains: Is “Happy April Fools’ Day” capitalized? The answer is nice and simple — with the same pattern as any other holiday, including geeky math ones like Pi Day.

In short, all holidays are proper nouns, so they need all words in their title capitalized, like: “April Fools’ Day.” That said, the word “Happy” is not part of the holiday, so it should only be capitalized if it’s at the start of a sentence, but not in the middle. For example, you would write, “I wish you a happy New Year’s Eve!”

A quick reminder, as April 1 is on the cusp of a new season: Though holidays are proper nouns, seasons are not, leading to the annoying answer to “Do you capitalize seasons?” which is: “No.” In other words, you write: “The holiday called April Fools’ Day is in the season called spring,” with a lower case “s” for “spring.”

What Do You Yell After an April 1 Prank?

Now, before you dust off your jester hat drawing and get your practical jokes ready, we have one more order of business: What do you yell after you trick someone with an April Fool’s Day prank? Should you say, “April fools!” or “April fool!” — or is there some apostrophe in there?

The answer is kind of rude. To be correct, you are supposed to yell, “April fool!” because you are calling the singular person you tricked a fool because they fell for your joke. Sheesh!

April Fools’ Day Punctuation, in Sum

I’m not playing a practical joke on you here — these April Fools’ Day punctuation, apostrophe, and capitalization rules are real! What other holiday lessons and art resources would you like me to create, besides my Easter coloring pages? Do share…