Back in the day, we did a lot of things differently from today. We spent more time outdoors, we didn’t have parents monitoring us 24/7, and people didn’t file nearly as many lawsuits. Because of all those things, we were also able to do a few other things – we were able to get away with TP-ing and soaping.
For those who never had the joy of throwing rolls of toilet paper on bushes or up into trees, I’ll explain.
The Lost Art of TP-ing
Going toilet papering, getting Tee Peed, or TP-ing for short, was normally for teenagers – although people of all ages have been known to do it. The first step was to buy large quantities of toilet paper.
We then waited until late at night. We drove to the victim’s house, making sure to park far enough away that if they woke up or came outside, they wouldn’t see our car.
Then, tossing them one at a time, we’d throw each roll as high up into a tree as possible. The toilet paper would latch onto the branches and then unroll until it hit the ground.
When it hit the ground, we would tear it off and throw it up again, continuing the process until the roll was empty.
After dozens of rolls had been thrown in the trees, long strands of toilet paper blew gracefully in the wind.
Back in the day, getting TP-d was often a status symbol. We didn’t waste money buying dozens of rolls of toilet paper on people we didn’t like. Friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends got TP-d.
There was often a lot of tit-for-tat when TP-ing. It sometimes turned into a competition to see who could get each other’s house the worst.
I wouldn’t recommend TP-ing today. There are too many angry people out there, as well as too many security cameras. TP-ing or soaping someone’s house might set the wrong person off.
TP-ing Related Activities
Soaping and ding dong ditching were prank activities closely related to TP-ing. I don’t remember doing much soaping or ding dong ditching, as this isn’t quite as dramatic as covering trees, buildings, and vehicles with streams of flowing toilet paper.
For those who wanted to participate in these related activities, soaping would involve taking a bar of soap and writing messages or just messing windows with soap. Ding dong ditching (ringing a doorbell and then running away) is a fairly harmless prank, but doesn’t take a whole lot of creativity and therefore isn’t as impressive.
Some of the more creative pranks I’ve heard of, but never actually participated in, include buying a ridiculous amount of rubber bands and throwing them all over someone’s yard and driveway. Rubber bands are extremely difficult to shovel, rake, or sweep. Your buddies would therefore have to spend hours bending over and picking each one up.
Another harmless yet time-consuming prank to clean up was “forking.” This involved buying dozens of packages of plastic forks and sticking them in the ground with the forks sticking up. Throwing rubber bands around can be accomplished rather quickly with only a few people, however, you’d need a pretty large crew to get a yard filled with forks.
TP-ing is From a Bygone Era
While TP-ing is technically still not illegal in most states and counties, if someone decides to call the cops, you could get charged with littering or trespassing. Also, messing with a mailbox during any prank was always a big no-no since tampering with a mailbox is considered a federal offense.
Just as prank phone calls don’t happen much anymore because of caller ID, security cameras have pretty much put an end to TP-ing and other outdoor pranks. Unless you know the person pretty well and know they won’t get mad, it’s not worth TP-ing any longer.
TP-ing, and other goofy outdoor pranks, are just more of those things people don’t do so much today, but did with abandon… back in the day.
Back in the Day... 
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