Hey Pandas, What’s The Dumbest Idea You’ve Ever Had, That Actually Worked Out?

my at the time 17 yr old son decides last minute he wanted to attend a renaissance fair but didn't have an outfit. when i say last minute i mean the day before. went to thrift store and purchased: one lightweight granny nightgown w/ruffles; one pair of green worn work pants; one ladies size 10 leather jacket /fur trim; one pair worn leather flip flops. now, my son was 6 ft 180lbs. he started to complain but told him to shut up and went to work. stripped the nightie into blouse w/peasant sleeves. "wore out" pants to make it look like he would wear in field. stripped the jacket by the seams then re-did it into a leather jerkin. used the sleeves/excess leather to create a pouch with fur to carry things. also took scraps and made him footwear w/laces over the flip flops. had him cut down a branch from a back yard tree, stripped it and make it into a staff after coloring it with coffee and coffee grinds. final touch was a cap torn to look worn. after all was done he looked authentic. the next year i ordered 10 yards of tartan based on our family and made him the rest. but, for that year, he had a great time and it began his love of history in general as well as the history of our family line.

I had really bad anxiety of going out of town alone and a terrible fear of flying too. I couldn’t even get a train to the next town (10 minute journey).
Had an evening getting very tipsy with a friend and it turned out drunk me bought sober me tickets to New Zealand (12,000 miles as I live in England). I was terrified before but ended up loving the journey and never felt any fear at all. 12 hours to Singapore, transferred planes on my own and then another 10 hours to NZ. A 20+ year toxic and emotionally abusive relationship was the real reason I became so anxious. Strange how it affects us in unexpected ways and it happens so slowly. I’m so happy and confident on my own now (single!), I can now go anywhere without any anxiety :)

Went to work at the Disney store. I wasn't into Disney stuff at all and I knew their staff expectations were high. Retail jobs are rough to begin with, and I didn't want to deal with any of that. But I saw a girl behind the counter laughing with a customer as I walked by. It was such a genuine, warm laugh that I thought "what the heck, maybe it'll be fun" and applied.

Well, I got the job and that girl became my best friend. Then I started dating her boyfriend's best friend. This summer, we'll have been married 17 years and have amazing tween twins. I would never have met my husband or had my awesome children if it wasn't for a girl laughing in a store I'd never dreamed of working in before.

In seriousness: Made a knee brace out of duct tape. I was desperate. It friggin' worked better than the one from the hospital. Still use the duct tape brace!

I was thirsty and didn't want water, so I just got some honey, mixed it into a glass of water, and it actually tasted pretty good!

So this one was only sort of my idea. Years ago, I ran a preschool out of my house. Kids in the 3 to 5 year old age range like to test boundaries and try new things. They would often tip back their chairs and try to ballance One week 3 kids tipped their chair back and hit their head on the wall or floor. I only had 6 students, so this was pretty ridiculous.
So I had the idea, out of desperation as much as anything to sit them all down, on the floor (trust was pretty low at this point) and ask them how to solve the problem.
The oldest, who was all of 5 suggested we should make a sign that said "Don't tip back your chair" and hang it on the wall. I pointed out she was the only one who could read the sign. They all insisted that if they drew pictures on the sign it would work. I knew this wouldn't work, but nothing was working. So I said "Okay, we can try the sign" hoping that would give me a few days to figure out something better.
3 years later, when I shut the preschool down to return to college, no other kid had fallen and hit their head. Every time a new student tipped their chair back an older student would read them the sign and explain the rule. I literally never had to talk about it again. They were so determined it would work that they made it work!

I once had a flat tyre on my bicycle. Didn't have repair kit on me. Saw a piece of hosepipe lying at the side of the road, and slipped it between the tube and tyre. Made the wheel sturdy enough to get home and fix it.

Set up a tinder account for entertainment. Found the love of my life.

Many years ago the retail department store I worked for was replacing their old-school cash registers with computerised ones. we were all required to attend a meeting where we were told about them and how they worked. I sat in the back of the room with pen and paper, doodling and not really paying attention. After the meeting the store manager came up to me and said "I noticed you scribbling away during the presentation." I braced myself for a telling-off. He continued "Nobody else bothered to take notes so I'm offering you the position of staff trainer when we introduce the new system." Yes, I accepted. And, yes, I got a hefty pay increase.

We had a school writing contest and I knew I couldn't win so I waited until the last few days to do it. (It was supposed to take 2-3 weeks to complete) Apparently, I won.

I already did one but today I had an even dumber idea to make waffles with applesauce instead of milk and that somehow worked.

I created a YouTube channel for the soul purpose of being able to comment. I did this years ago, and then I started uploading. Now I’ve got 84 subs. So yeah it worked out. Also btw other than saxophone recording gaming videos is like my life.

Drinking dr pepper. Hated the name loved the taste

When i started making a bunch of characters in elementary school for fun. Now I have a whole story line withe plot, lore and all that good stuff. I just need someone to help me write it ;w;

So, a little backstory here. I had hip surgery not so long ago and due to the type of surgery I got, I had to wear an abduction pillow. It is literally one of those cheese hats but oversized to fit my legs. What is worse, my legs had to be strapped to them at all times. This made sleeping literal hell. And I LOVE SLEEPING. To make myself comfortable, I had to figure out how to Rube Goldberg myself a almost pillow fort like configuration of pillows. (I won't get into many details) After many tries, I finally figured out how to make myself comfortable for some relief. Let me tell you, whatever I came up with is literally the best thing I have even came up with! I still use it to this day whenever I am sleeping, as I still have minor discomfort when sleeping.

So me and my friends wanted to plant something, but we didnt had place anywhere. So i looked at their fence, and it has Pipe in it, and there was ants in it. So i had an idea to put dirt in it and to Plant the plant in it. And it actually worked out, i have never seen a plant growing faster before. But sadly plant died, because someone was thinking it was just an grass and ripped it. [*] (sorry for bad grammar)

When I was little at the beach I got really sick. Not going to go into details but... Puke. Everywhere. What got me into this situation? Too much iffy Ice cream.
Now, when I was driving home with my Grandma (no rest from the puke) she noticed a stand on the side of the road selling peach Ice cream. That's as iffy as Ice cream venues can get. I tried to remind Grandma that I had already ruined the upholstery in her car, and I didn't think that stopping was a good idea. But my Grandma is southern, and peach Ice cream runs in her veins.
So we got some. And it was AMAZING. Litterly the best thing I've ever tasted. I think I just needed to eat something fresh, because it totally did the trick. Almost a minute after I finished the cone I was completely fine.
We still love to talk about this, and hope to try the miracle ice cream again one day, if we can find it.

Starting to write a book. I was really struggling with all those bad childhood memories coming back after my abusive father killed himself. I ended up turning my own story and feelings into a fictional Storyline witch involved a protagonist that had similar struggles. It helped me so much to understand my own feelings and showed me how to use my past as a creative superpower. When I started to realize how much work it would be to finish the book, I initially was sure it was a bad idea to push through. Nevertheless I did what felt right and kept writing. A few month ago I finished the manuscript for my first thriller. I’m pretty sure It kept me from getting seriously depressed!

double-sided tape to stick hard disks to the inside of a PC casing.

So… I wanted to curl my hair with my cousins hair brush. This is where it fails. I got the brush stuck in my hair, so like any normal person would i swung my hair around and.. it didnt come out. So i cut my hair on accident. Then i panicked so me and my cousin cut the other side of my hair. Long story short I got compliments on my new curtain bangs.