DIY Hula Hoop Tutorial

It is officially summer vacation and is officially beautiful outside.  It is my intention to stay outside as much as possible, and only inside to cook, sleep and other necessary tasks.
In celebration, we went to our local hardware store to get the items required for super-awesome hula hoops.  Here is how we did it, step-by-step.  It is so easy even kids can do it!!

Basic materials: 1 inch irrigation tubing 100-150 thickness, cut to a length so that the hoop hits you in the lower-ribs.
(I sweet-talked the nice guy working at the yard to cut them for us with his sharp knife.  Smile and bat your eyelashes)
1 inch couplings
Sand paper
not shown:soap, hot water, black duck tape (you know what those look like)

We sanded the tube so that it will be a bit sticky.

We then washed the lumber yard off the tubes.

After heating some water, we soaked the ends in warm water to make them more pliable.

These are the 1" couplings and dish soap.  I put some dish soap on each end, so that they were slick.

After the tubing is soft, and the coupling is slick, the whole mess slides together easily, making these:

This is our finished project.
One for mom, son, and daughter.  Maybe the kids will do this, instead of bickering.
Maybe I will do this instead of losing my mind with bickering.

Here are the happy kids.
 They had a competition to see who could do it the longest, then they tried some fancy moves.

It only took us about 30 minutes to make them, and $10.  I had purchased some flimsy ones for them for $5 each, but they seem useless compared to these.  Now, we can spend the rest of the summer by the pool, reading, gardening and hula hooping (it is too cold to swim in, for an adult, but it sure looks nice)