13 Smart Ways To Upcycle An Old Hula Hoop Around Your Home And Garden

Hula hoops can be fun for kids who enjoy playing outside or adults looking for an at-home workout. However, it's normal for kids to eventually outgrow their hula hoop, either because they physically get too big for its small size or just decide they don't feel like playing with it anymore. At the same time, even regular-sized hula hoops used by adults can wear down from regular use. Perhaps yours has lost its fun color or accidentally been bent or broken. If any of these scenarios have happened and you have some old hula hoops lying around that no longer get used, think twice before throwing them in the garbage, as there are 13 ways you could repurpose them around your home and garden.

If you have a creative side and want to put your old item to good use, explore our various hula hoop upcycle ideas. By repurposing your old hula hoop, you're doing a good thing for the environment while adding a cool new feature to your home or yard that could potentially save you some money as well. What more could you want? On the other hand, if you don't want to upcycle this item, one environmentally-friendly way to dispose of it is to bring it to a recycling center to keep it out of a landfill. Just remember to remove the tape on the hula hoop before bringing it to get recycled. 

Do you want to update ordinary string lights for a stylish look? Instead of just draping basic string lights along your banister or pergola, hang an old hula hoop in a color you like in the center of the display and wrap the hoop in the lights. By drawing attention to the hula hoop and letting it work with the string lights, your outdoor decorations will make more of an eye-catching statement than they would on their own. You could also place faux florals on the hula hoop or hang planters from it as well. 

Anyone who wants to practice their golf skills at home and has a spacious lawn should consider using their old hula hoop to help them improve their skills. Repurposing the hula hoop by leaning it against a tree and aiming at the inside requires no DIY skills or additional materials, so any golf lover should consider this low-effort upcycling idea. If you wanted the hula hoop to stand on its own without the help of a tree, you could also cut and bend it to create an arch and then push the two sides into the ground.

Whether you want to impress your guests when they arrive at your Halloween house party or aspire to beat your neighbors in a competition for who has the best spooky decorations, placing a lit-up hula hoop around a skeleton in your yard will command attention and captivate your neighborhood. Wrap an LED light strip around your old hula hoop and attach it around your skeleton with clear string that can't easily be seen. To take this DIY decoration even further, put some glow-in-the-dark clothes and other items on the skeleton.

Anyone who uses balloons to decorate their space for parties and celebrations likely knows the struggle of trying to keep track of all those balloons — especially if the space has high ceilings. A convenient solution is to use an old hula hoop as a base for the glued or taped-on balloons, preventing them from flying away or getting lost. This could be especially helpful for balloons that spell out a word, as it will keep the letters from getting out of order. You could also include other decorative elements on the hula hoop like flowers, branches, or streamers.

Fans of chandeliers, pendant lights, or cascading ceiling decorations should think twice before spending lots of money on these pieces, as anyone can DIY a lovely ceiling decoration with an old hula hoop. For a whimsical look, hang colorful floral and leaf-inspired details from the old hula hoop, attach strings to the hoop, and then knot the strings together and hang them from a hook on the ceiling. Additionally, if you want this stunning hula hoop upcycle to light up your backyard or indoor space, include string lights or LED strips as well.

Use your hula hoop to make a tent in your yard for your kids to play in or even just for yourself to escape when you need some alone time. For this project, hang a hula hoop from a tree with strings and have curtains or sheets flow down from the hoop to act as the walls of the tent. Of course, check that it's secure before letting anyone enter the hut. Creating a hula hoop tent is similar to DIYing a hula hoop canopy, so if you can do one project, you shouldn't have any problems when doing the other.