You know, for kids!

Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves to behold a spectacle of such flash and glitter that the internet can barely contain its wondrousness!

It’s… a hula hoop! But not just any hula hoop, no. This is a 42″ (or is it 40″?) diameter adult-sized hula hoop lovingly made from 3/4″ irrigation tubing by the lovely and talented Tammy at Nice Hoops on Etsy.

This baby was on my Amazon wishlist. My mother-in-law saw it and said, “Now there’s an item she’s never going to buy for herself.” She was right. It was something I wanted, but in all likelihood I’d keep looking at it and think of all the practical things that money could purchase instead. It was a very thoughtful Christmas gift.

When I was a kid, I could keep a hoop going for hours. Once in day care we had a field day, a little mini Olympics for the kids, in competitions like bubble gum blowing and relay racing. Another little girl and I kept our hoops going far longer than anyone else. Finally the adults got tired of waiting for one of us to drop so they declared the hula hoop competition a first place tie.

As an adult, I’ve tried spinning Em’s hoop, but my body’s changed a little since I was 10 years old. I could never keep her hoop going. There’s a lot less empty space and a lot more me inside a kid-sized hoop these days. I wondered, was it just that I’d lost the motion, or would a hoop sized to my current more robust frame do the trick?

When I got the hoop I literally squealed and jumped up and down like a kid at Christmas. I took it outside to give it a whirl and the motion came back very naturally, like riding a bicycle. If you’ll pardon the turn of phrase, since it’s big and thick, I can keep it up as long as I want. It’s all in the hips.

We strapped it to my husband’s bike rack and drove it back home, which I’m sure was a sight for all the other drivers on the road. It made the trip just fine. This is one sturdy hoop!

I am having such fun with this. What a nifty gift. Many, many thanks to my husband’s wonderful family. I’m so lucky to have such neat people in my life.

WOOOOOOO!!!