Hula Hoop
Did you have a favorite toy when you were growing up? Most kids do! I had two favorite toys. I loved to play jacks. That was something I could play with my sister. With my friends or by myself. But what I really liked playing with the most was a hula hoop.
The hula hoop came into fashion in the late 1950's. I cannot remember when I first played with one, but I can remember how much fun it was. And I, also remember, I was pretty good with it. I loved to twirl it around my waist, or my arm, or my legs. I also liked rolling it along the ground. The hula hoop was something I played with all by myself. I liked playing by myself.
The modern hula hoop was invented in the late 1950's and marketed by The Wham-O Toy Company. Most hula hoops were made with a plastic tubing. And they came in a variety of colors. I have no memory of the childhood hula hoop's color.
I could stand for hours with that thing around my waist, swinging my waist from side to side, and keeping it from falling to the ground. But, if it fell, I just picked it up and started all over again. We used to have competitions to see who could keep it going the longest. The hula hoop took over whenever we tired of jacks.
The crazy fad died out in the 1980's. But not before my kids were introduced to them. I don't think they found it to be the same interesting, enticing toy I loved. After all they were boys and they were much more interested in toy guns (or just using their finger as if it were a gun) or cars and trucks.
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| Not me! Found on Wikipedia Photo taken by George Garrigues. |
A few hula hoop bits of trivia:
1) The longest time a hula hoop was kept spinning was 74 hours and 54 minutes!!
2) The record number of hula hoops kept spinning at the same time was 160.
3) In February of 2013 there were 4,483 people who hula-hooped for 7 minutes to dance music in a stadium in Thailand which set a Guinness Book Record.
Did you play with a hula hoop as a child? Could you still make one of them go round and round your waist?
I played with a hula hoop from time to time. Never owned one, so I used someone else's. I wasn't fascinated by it, but it was fun.
ReplyDeleteIt was lots of fun, wasn't it!!
DeleteI had one and loved it, great exercise! Don't think I can move like that any more:)
ReplyDeleteI bet we would surprise ourselves if we tried one again!
DeleteThose were interesting facts about the hula hoop :) Sadly I was not able to hula hoop. I could never get the rhythm down or whatever it took. I admired those that could.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I was a pretty good jacks player :)
betty
Oh how I loved playing jacks. I wonder if I still could. I should try it sometime!!
DeleteLoved my hula hoop! It was blue. Jacks, strap-on roller skates and hula hoops. Good old days! i don't have mine any more, but GN's is still in the garage.
ReplyDeleteOh I remember those roller skates. I never had a pair of my own. Those were the good old days, weren't they?
DeleteInteresting facts and I have a hula hoop in my house but I doubt if I could last more than a couple of rotations 😟
ReplyDeleteWe should have a contest sometime!! LOL
Deletefun post.
ReplyDeleteThank you Denise!
DeleteI think I should try this again. It might improve my waistline! Sue @suesconsideredt from Sue’s Trifles
ReplyDeleteand Sue’s words and pictures
I think it would be some good exercise for sure!
DeleteI hula hooped, yes. I am tempted to get one now for exercise purposes. I'm not sure I can still wiggle like I used to, though :)
ReplyDeleteI would like to try it again, too! I should just go buy me one!!
DeleteI played Jacks constantly - with my sister and with my best friend who lived next door to me. Hula hoops was another big past time for us. My sister was really really good at it - she could stand there for ages - with me yelling out - my turn now - my turn!!
ReplyDeleteLinda in VA
I remember doing a lot of yelling too....to have my turn!
DeleteOh - I read awhile back that using a hula hoop as an adult is a good weight loss tool. I keep planning on trying it - when I get a hula hoop that is!
ReplyDeleteLinda in VA
Well, that makes me really want to get one!!
DeleteI love hula hoops. Thankyou for this wonderful post. Brought back a wonderful childhood memory.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sunday for your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the post!
DeleteSo funny that you post about this. A couple weeks ago my husband and I were in a restaurant with a long line, that kept hula hoops in the entry way. A couple people were doing well with them and I was encouraged to try. I've never been good at them, but I tried. I think it went around halfway before falling down. I do not have that motion in my hips!
ReplyDeleteThat would be an entertaining line to stand in. I am not sure I have that much confidence to try it with strangers watching.
DeleteI always wanted to be able to do this but I just wasn't very good and even today in some of my keep fit classes we have a go now and again and some ladies who are getting into their 70s can still shimmy their hula hoop around them so a bit like riding a bike - it never leaves you!!! I think my favourite outdoor toys were my green scooter and a tennis ball to throw up against the outside wall :)
ReplyDeletePempi
A Stormy’s Sidekick
Special Teaching at Pempi’s Palace
Well, I just hit 65 this week. Next year I will begin to say "Im getting into my 70's" LOL I never owned a scooter. My grandkids like to throw the ball up against the house. I go out and yell at them to stop!!
DeleteYes I remember playing with a hula hoop - I was about 5. New follower from the A-Z challenge.
ReplyDeleteI was much older than 5. Closer to my teens and beyond!! Thanks for visiting!
DeleteI've never been able to keep up a hula hoop, but I love watching other people do it! Thanks for visiting my blog! :) Great to meet you, and Happy A-Zing!
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you as well Bonnie Gwyn!
DeleteI wanted to love my red hula hoop. Really I did. Unfortunately, my hips wouldn't cooperate. The harder I tried to 'hoop' like those girls on TV, probably the more ridiculous I appeared.
ReplyDeleteHa! Ha! I can see the struggle here!
DeleteI did have a hula hoop when I was young and I loved it! I wasn't always good at it but I sure did give it a good try. I could keep it going for awhile but nothing like the people I saw on TV doing it!
ReplyDeleteWasn't that a brilliant invention?? Can you imagine how rich the person is who invented the hula hoop? Just some plastic tubing and Voila: fame and fortune! I need to come up with something like that...
Michele at Angels Bark
It was a brilliant invention. Most of these kinds of inventions are brilliant. And yes, a multi-millionaire I am sure!
DeleteMy daughter and I were just reminiscing about hula hoops yesterday! Love 'em.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting me today!
DeleteI could never manage a hula hoop :( No matter how many times I tried. I stuck to my G.I. Joes and other actions figures. Mayhaps a toy gun or two.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking out my A to Z, I hope you're having a blast!
My boys just never thought they were that much fun! And I don't remember my brothers liking them like I did!
DeleteOf course I had a hula hoop as a kid....everyone in our generation did, I am sure. They are making a comeback in gyms across the country. I tried one at my gym last year....It was tooooooo funny. My hips don't want to swing no more!!!!
ReplyDeleteI would love to try it again, now!
DeleteI never did well at the hoop and envied those who did. I did use them as fun props and targets when I was a tennis instructor. The kids loved warming up with them.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that from others who were teaching tennis!
DeleteI never could get the motion down right to hula hoop. While my Mom can, neither of my kids have the knack either. :)
ReplyDeleteIt must be a knack! I never gave it much thought
DeleteI was never very good at hula hoop-ing, but it was a lot of fun. I think I preferred jumping rope. I'm trying to remember if my daughter ever played with a hula hoop as a kid. It's making me sad that the trend died in the '80s.
ReplyDeleteOh how I loved to jump rope too! I am sure that is one I would skip now. Too hard on the knees!
DeleteFond memories! I haven't tried it in quite a while but I think I could keep it going now, at least for five or ten seconds.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are enjoying the A to Z!
@ScarlettBraden from
Frankly Scarlett
We should try it again, shouldn't we?
DeleteI am rubbish at Hula-hoop- my two teenage sons are much better. (Occasionally they do it as part of their tennis practice.) I prefer the Hula hoops you eat:D (Not sure if you have them in US but here they are tasty crispy snaps!)
ReplyDeleteI had a tennis instructor talk about hula hoops at tennis practice. Interesting. And, no, I haven't heard of the crispy snaps!
DeleteNever really got the hang of hula hoops, but not for lack of trying. At the halfway house where I work, we had a resident who had a hard time focusing on himself and spent a great deal of time focusing on (and getting angry and/or critical about) the behaviors of others. Someone in an AA meeting told him that he needed to imagine he had a hula hoop around his waist at all times and only be concerned with what was inside the hula hoop. He was 6'6" and around 300 lbs. and could be heard walking around mumbling that reminder to himself, "Stay inside my own hula hoop." When he graduated from our program, we purchased him his very own glittery hot pink hula hoop. The look on his face when we presented it to him is one of my favorite work memories. :)
ReplyDeleteI can just imagine how happy he was!!
DeleteI love this story. That's good advice for just about anyone.
ReplyDeleteHa! Ha! I don't know if hula-hooping is good advice. But thanks for the visit!
DeleteIt's very nice blog about hula hoop,.
ReplyDeleteLED Hoops
Henry, me thinks you are a spammer!!
DeleteHenry, me thinks you are a spammer!!
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