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. 

Whether you believe that a dreamcatcher will prevent nightmares or just like how they look as decorations, these items are even more fun and creative when you make them yourself instead of buying them from a store. To complete this DIY, you'll need your old hula hoop for the frame and some yarn or cord in colors that match or contrast the hoop's hues, depending on whether you want it to look cohesive or bold. Consider embellishing the hula hoop frame with feathers and beads as well to finish the look.

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. 

Have you ever fantasized about the perfect canopy bed for sleeping in style but don't want to spend tons of money on the whimsical item? Save your cash by DIYing the canopy out of a hula hoop, some fabric, string, a ceiling hook, and other embellishments. Attach beautiful curtains — or even sheets — to your hula hoop, and add any other decorations like branches or flowers. Then, mount your DIY canopy to the hook on your ceiling over your bed with the string to create that flowy, luxurious effect. Just be 100% sure it's mounted securely to the ceiling before you sleep under it.

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.

Floral details add lovely touches to both indoor and outdoor spaces by creating a gentle, nature-inspired vibe. So, if you want to turn your hula hoop into a beautiful decoration, you can't go wrong with adding floral embellishments. To make the hula hoop decor last longer, cover it with fake flowers instead of real ones. To make an oversized wreath, you could cover the entire hoop with florals. Your piece would make a charming decoration for events such as weddings or birthday parties, but if you love the floral aesthetic, consider displaying it somewhere you'll see it every day, such as against a wall in your bedroom.

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.

Making a collage is a creative way to display your favorite photographs without sticking to a rigid, organized system. If you enjoy creating collages and want to try something bolder, bigger, and more unique than a classic on-paper or scrapbook type, use an old hula hoop as the frame. Fill in the center with straight, taught lines of fabric or paper and attach pictures wherever you want on those strips with glue or clips. Hula hoop collages can make excellent decorations or gifts to show someone how much you care about them and cherish your memories together.

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.

Who says ornaments are only for Christmas trees? If you want to create an eye-catching decoration with 3D details that would make the perfect oversized table centerpiece, attach your favorite ornaments to strings and carefully tie them to the top of a spray-painted hula hoop, letting the ornaments hang down in the middle. Not only will this decoration give you a chance to display a few of your ornaments more than once a year, but the project will also transform the old hula hoop into a piece of art.

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.

One of the best ways to transform your space with floating shelves is to embellish those wall-mounted shelves with hula hoops. This will make the practical and minimalistic shelves into a both functional but also eye-catching piece of wall decor. After painting your old hula hoops any color you want, attach them to the front and back of your floating shelves. Next, hang them on the wall so the hula hoops look like halos on both sides of the shelves. Finally, place all your favorite decorations on the shelves.

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.

If you want to protect your garden from animals and bugs, hula hoops can help by creating the frame for garden bed covers. Let the old hula hoops frame the ends and middle of your garden beds, bending and altering them as needed to create arches. Then, drape a netted fabric over it all, using your hula hoops as guidelines. It can also help to stuff the hoops with a strong material like bamboo if you need them to be more durable.