Today I’ll share how to create a hula hoop happy! When I worked as a balloon designer, I made a few fun names for random types of balloons garlands and gifts that I created. I loved making hula hoop happy’s in particular because they could include a message in the center.

Here’s a simple mini hula hoop happy that I made for a 5th birthday:

The premise is really similar to how you build a balloon garland. For mini hula hoop happy’s I would use smaller balloons to make it all scale-to-fit. Instead of using balloon animals or fishing line as a central line, you just tie the balloons directly to the hoop!

The miniature option above is a more cost effective hula hoop happy. Here’s what a full sized hoop with a banner message looks like:

First, I made a banner using my Cricut Joy. You could also order a banner like this from Etsy if you have time and prefer to do that!

After making a few hula hoop happy’s I found that I preferred to place the banner on the hula hoop first before adding the balloons. The letters could always be adjusted to fit within the balloons but it helped me to make sure everything fit spacing-wise.

Once the balloons were added, this hoop was cute as could be!

A hula hoop happy is great because there’s an obvious front, so it’s super easy to hang. The best! Below is the end result for my partial hole in one hula hoop happy.

Partial hula hoop happy (with message)

I particularly love hula hoop happy’s because my clients can’t hang them wrong. There’s a front and back side to balloon garlands. Pick-up balloon garlands in particular would get twisted and confusing to the untrained eye.

Once my clients battled the balloons to hang them up, they usually didn’t want to adjust the garland to make those tiny balloons show in the front of the garland. That’s not an issue when you’re working with hoops!

What a Full hoop Looks like

The only thing better than a partial hoop for easy hanging? A FULL hula hoop happy! These were the CUTEST for pickup clients. Just look at a few of the designs I created over the years…

Y’all. This cookie monster first birthday was soooo cute! I made the hula hoop as a pickup garland. My client made all of this magic happen alll by herself and it was SO cute!

This client ordered a full halloween balloon hoop… then turned it into the cutest spooky doo birthday setup ever! Yes, it was the same client that ordered the cookie monster first birthday balloons. She had a vision that was SO much better than I had for my work, and I loved getting her pictures on setup day.

I, of course, charged a bit more for full hoops versus mini hula hoop happy’s or partial fills… but the full ones looked. so. good. in pictures in my opinion!

Note: sometimes hula hoops are hard to find depending on the season. For full hoops, I would use a small black bendable pipe from home depot to save on costs and supplies.

For partial hoops, I purchased in bulk in the hopes that I might have the colors I would need in the off season in storage.

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