Cousins Amberly Hall, Kristy Moore and Jennifer Couch, all born and raised in the Houston area, all believe in “Go big or go home” like the true Texans they are. They wanted to go in together on a business, a creative one, and decided on an affordable, inflatable Christmas ornament. They headed out to the Dallas Market Center to see what wasn’t there, because it had everything. And why wouldn’t it? It took up 115 acres. There were no gigantic inflatable Christmas balls, so they got working on the Holiball, oversized and unbreakable.
The three cousins make quite a team.
- Amberly had always come up with ideas for inventions, mostly to make her family laugh. No one laughed at the Holiball. She is a former educator and real estate agent, now a stay-at-home mom to three lively redheads. She also has a global perspective from living abroad and traveling around the world.
- Kristy is a stay-at-home mom who brings her creative vision and attention to detail. As soon as the children were in school, she returned to her creative pursuits by building an interior design business. She enjoys all the aspects of her business, the designing, planning, implementing, but mostly seeing her visions come to life.
- Jennifer is a serial entrepreneur. She started out in commercial real estate development, until downsizing reared its ugly head. Entrepreneurship had always beckoned to her, and now was her chance. She and a friend founded an architectural signage business that was one of “Houston’s 100 Fastest Growing Businesses” in only two years. She ventured into difference businesses—some successfully, some not. But she values the lessons she learned from the failures. Jennifer also has a lifelong love and talent for drawing interior designs.
All of them were determined to produce a quality product that they could stand behind.
They first had to find the exactly right material. After many trials and errors, they found a UV-resistant engineered polymer that is durable and lightweight and can withstand any climate. Perfect for their vision of the Holiball that can be hung from a tree branch or arranged on a porch or hung from the ceiling indoors. The Holiball can decorate anything anywhere, outdoors or in—with 22 colors, from the traditional red, green and silver to the unconventional lilac, merlot and black.
There are two sizes, 18” and 30”. Included in the package is the Holiball Topper, Holiball Hanger Plug and a hardware kit. Inflate the Holiball using a household air compressor. When the ball is full, insert the Hanger Plug then the Topper. No muss, no fuss. It is just as easy to store after Christmas. If needed, clean with soap and water. Deflate and the Holiball is only the size of a softball. No worries about dry rot, since there is no rubber in the material.
Amberly, Kristy and Jennifer founded Holiball in the summer of 2019 and launched it in November 2019. They started with 1,000 units in four colors that sold faster than they ever dreamed possible. They did even better in 2020 as they traveled around the country, beginning in Dallas at the Chi Omega Market. While there, they were invited to the Dallas Buyers Market, where a representative from an Atlanta, GA, market found them. The next week they were in Atlanta and were invited by the Best of Show showroom to join them in Las Vegas.
Holiballs are now sold in 200 shops, from mom and pop stores to boutiques in 36 states and 8 countries.