It’s always nice to get phone calls from friends and family on your birthday, but how would you feel if your phone was suddenly blowing up with texts and calls from complete strangers? That’s exactly what happened to Chris Ferry when he turned 62, thanks to his two prankster sons, Chris and Mike.
Because Ferry’s sons couldn’t be with him on his special day — they live in Florida and their dad lives in New Jersey — they decided to wish him a happy birthday in a completely outlandish way. They rented a billboard that displayed the following message: “Wish My Dad Happy Birthday — Love, Your Sons.” The billboard also included his photo and phone number.
Check out the birthday man himself in front of the billboard, in this photo posted to Facebook:
Chris and Mike’s outsized birthday prank did not disappoint, and Ferry says he received happy birthday wishes from all across the globe.
“Every state in the union, Luxembourg, Nepal, Kenya, Philippines. … That little island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, they tried calling me,” Ferry told Inside Edition.
The billboard is near the casinos in Atlantic City, which ensured that plenty of people would see it.
Ferry’s sons say the fun-loving prank is in the tradition of how they would tease him as kids, always telling servers at restaurants that it was his birthday, even when it wasn’t. Ferry swears he has a plan for retaliation, but they’re not so sure.
“I would love to see him try,” Mike told CBS New York. “I just wanted to say I love my dad, I love my family, and I’m really glad he’s getting attention because he’s a great guy. He always puts others first, especially me and my brother.”
Ferry’s birthday was on March 16 and the billboard was slated to remain up until April 6, so we’re guessing he received enough birthday wishes to last a lifetime.