Red Hat Ladies Site

Who Are the Red Hat Society Ladies?

If you see ladies in the over 50’s bracket, wearing red hats and purple dresses, get out of their way. Red Hat Society Ladies are on the move, and they’re having fun. The Red Hat Society originated as a group of friends having afternoon tea in Fullerton, California. Now the ladies of the Red Hat Society number over 1.5 million worldwide. There are more than 41 000 chapters, including groups in Canada, Japan, Mexico, Egypt and Australia, as well as an online chapter.
Seize the Day

Wearing red hats and purple dresses is symbolic of this seize the day, devil may care approach to life. For Red Hat Society Ladies who are feeling especially frivolous, a feather boa, glitzy jewelry and purple gloves add an extra dash of glamor and fun. They call themselves a disorganisation , and have no rules except the red hat and purple attire worn to all gatherings like a badge of honor.
Red Hat Society Origins

Founder, Sue Ellen Cooper was inspired by Jenny Joseph‘s poem Warning. The essence of the poem is about embracing fun and life, rather than being held back by age and society’s expectations.
The poem starts off -

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit
Life’s Priorities

Red Hat Society Ladies have learned the art of prioritising what is really important in life. And they are going for it. I don’t mean doing the laundry or having the best starched sheets on the block. The Red Hat Society Ladies are intent on having serious fun.
Fun and Friendship
In fact, it’s all about fun and friendship. The fun starts with the naming of the chapters and members. Chapters include the Raspberry Tarts, the Rowdy Red Hat Mamas, the Brassy Belles, and the Scarlet O’Hatters. The leaders of each chapter are Red Hat Royalty, with Sue Ellen Cooper as the Exalted Queen Mother.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Bev Fussell, Queen of the Australian Dinky Di Divas told ABC Television that “girls just wanna have fun… We’ve gone garage-saling in convoy, and that’s an absolute hoot.” San Francisco’s Strutting Peacocks chapter holds an annual tea party at the San Francisco Zoo. When it comes to parade time, it seems that Red Hat Ladies just can’t resist a red sports car or a red London style double decker bus.
Ladies with Hattitude

Even bikies are not safe from being descended upon en masse, and being asked to pose with the Red Hat Ladies. The Red Hat Rockettes in Rockingham, Western Australia, and their irrepressible leader, Queen Beadazzled, have the photos to prove it. The Red Hat Society Ladies are ladies with a zest for life and plenty of “hattitude”. Long live the Red Hat Society.

It is time to strut your stuff, Ladies, and a red hat party is the main event! Red hat parties can be held anywhere, for any reason. The common thread is the proud party people are women dressed in red hat glory. Whether you are a member of the a hat society or just showing some class, red hat style, a red hat party is sure to be a hit.

Red hat party packages are available, or you can make your own. Print red hat party invitations on your computer, make them by hand, or purchase them, send them to the members of your society or to friends or the red hat variety, and whether you plan a red hat pajama party for brunch at the local breakfast bar, or a red hat society party to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the special people lucky enough to have a red hat lady in their life, your red hat party is sure to be fun for everyone!

If you plan a red hat pajama party brunch, have digital cameras (those with little photo printers are especially great to have handy) or automatic cameras ready, and take lots of photographs, because this will be a day to remember. Stage a red hat scavenger hunt. Organize a red hat pajama pageant. Plan a black hats don’t dance game.

In the black hats don’t dance game, get the dancers on the floor, and when you replace a lady’s hat with the black hat, tell her that black hats don’t dance, and begin dancing with her partner. She, in turn gets to tell someone that black hats don’t dance, and take her partner, until everyone has danced together.

Red hat pageant winners get a crown and banners or “trophies” and bonus photo opportunities. Consider having collagen photo opportunities where guests pose with big, red, wax lips. Another fun activity is to pair up in teams. Have hair curlers for each team, and a blindfold. One is the hair stylist, the other the model. Hairstylists are blindfolded, while they try to roll the model’s hair. Another great photo opportunity, and another fantastic red hat party!

Having had the privilege of attending a most recent Red Hat Ladies Tea, I must say there is no group that can out-do the Ladies in Red Hats! This wonderful chapter of ladies meets on a regular monthly basis, with members, and friends of members, at their “Bring a Friend to Tea” date. This Red Hat Meeting was held at a local Tea Room in Franklin, Michigan. The ladies wore beautiful red hats, purple feather boas, and lots of beads.

Laughter filled the room, as they caught up on the details of their last get-together, and they all greeted each other with the care and love usually reserved for a close friend or a sister. They are genuinely interested in each other and how they are doing. They exchanged new information and kept the laughter going with every cup of tea they consumed. These were not just friends, they were a close family aligned with one common thread, a red hat.

I was in awe of these Red Hat Ladies. I wanted to join. I wanted to be in their company. Perhaps it was because we are of a similar age and background, or is it because we are just ladies keeping the lines of communication open and sharing what we know for the good of all. It must be something special, and it must be something wonderful, because the Red Hat Society is growing daily, as the group of ladies enjoying afternoon tea in this quaint little village, looked and sounded like they were having the time of their lives!

There’s nothing that says the ladies of the red hat club can’t hold a red hat party with a friendly poker game involved. It might even draw more members into the group and having a regular card game during meetings could become a tradition. It could be picked up by red hat clubs all over the country, just go ahead and bring it up at the next meeting. You never know you might be seen as a creative genius, well maybe not, but a game of poker or even a full fledged casino themed red hat party can give your fellow members something really fun and interesting to do at the party. As always to keep the party light hearted have the gals bet donations to the current favorite charity or just plain use pretzels for barter.

For some reason the poker theme colors are incredibly similar to the red hat theme colors so you should have no problem at all mixing and matching your decorations for this party. Use red hat party themed plates, napkins, and tablecloths, but while you’re at it pick out some string up lights for the poker theme. Or pick up some fun light up led drinking glasses for the guests to use and they will be a delight. You can wrap connected red glow sticks and necklaces around the tables and chairs for extra decoration.

Food is a must at your party. Since traditional tea and coffee may not fit well with the mixed theme and game play, why not update it a bit with Long Island Iced Teas and Iced Coffees for the guests. Pick up appetizers are always best and easiest for the card players to handle. You can try mixing up a tasty cheese spread with cream and cheddar cheese. Don’t forget the Worcestershire sauce for the spread.

Another very interesting party concept is having a Red Hat Party. There is a red hat society, which is a group of women who wear red hats and purple dresses to the parties. The poems by Jenny Joseph is being considered the main inspiration for having these Red Hat Parties. These parties can be made really interesting with the addition of Red Hat Party Games in which everyone will have a chance to participate.

Don’t Dance With A Red Hat

This is a game which will definitely surprise all your guests. In this Red Hat Party Game, you need to tell your men audience that they must not dance with the lady who has a red hat on. Now what happens in this game is that a lady is given a red hat to wear and she will go to another lady who is dancing with her partner and will put the red hat on her head and that lady will have to find another partner. Now the lady who just lost a partner will go to another couple and will put the hat on the head of another lady who will then have to find a new partner and thus the game will go on and on till the participants are invited to play another game.

Grab The Candies

Well this has been a very interesting Red Hat Party Game that I am going to share with you. In this game, you have to have plenty of candies filled in a bowl. Put the bowl on the table and ask the ladies to grab as many candies as they can. After this, some ladies will grab one or two and others might take a handful of candies. Now when this process is over just ask the ladies that they do not need to eat the candies as yet, but now for each candy that they have taken, they have to share something about themselves. This game will be really exciting when everyone will start telling about themselves for each candy that they have taken.

There can be a lot of other Red Hat Party Games that you can think of, so that all the guests just have a really good time. Just remember that the games that you are going to design must be really interesting and should be designed as a professional as the ones that you have read and better.

A Brief History of Hats

At its simplest, a hat is any garment worn on the head, whether for practical purposes or for protection from sun, weather, or cold. Hats have been used in many ways throughout history. They have been ornamental, used to denote a specific social status, used for practical purposes, and worn for artistic reasons. The forms and kinds of hats have had almost as much variance.

One of the oldest kinds of hats is the wide-brimmed straw hat. Probably worn to protect against the sun, these can easily be constructed by weaving straw, or by sewing straw braid in concentric circles. Because straw is readily available in agricultural areas, the straw hat probably followed almost as soon as humans started growing grain. It also has the advantage of being relatively easy to replace.

Most of the earliest hats were probably worn for protective reasons. However, it also probably didn’t take long before they became decorative or symbolic. In ancient Greece and Rome, the Phrygian cap, a kind of pointed, curled skullcap, was awarded to freed slaves. Crowns, of course, signified royalty, and certain kinds of hats have often been used to denote priests and other clergy.

Through most of history, hats were either made of stiffened fabric, felt, leather, or straw. In modern times, you can add plastic and other man made materials to this list. Hat shapes have also varied over time. From simple, hoodlike styles and skullcaps, to the elaborate shapes of the tricorn and top hat, headwear and the way it’s constructed have evolved.

In general, women’s headgear in the early part of the Medieval period was oriented towards modesty. It was expected that the hair would be covered by a veil or kerchief. In the late 15th century, more elaborate hats began to be seen, and these eventually became the structured women’s hats of the 16th century. Slowly, these hats moved away from the modest ideal and became ornaments in their own right. It was at this time that the first makers of women’s hats specifically came into being. The first milliners were merchants who imported straw for hats from Milan and other regions. Women’s hat fashions progressed rapidly from this point on.

The bonnet was the mainstay of women’s headwear up until the mid 19th century. Around the 1850s, these hats became seen more as something worn by older women, and other styles became popular. These include the tiny hats of the 1880s, and the boater of the 1890s, developed from sport styles. This latter development was important, since it was the first time that women’s sporting wear had influenced mainstream fashion. Hats of the Edwardian era became enormous, and sometimes sported whole flower arrangements or birds.

After WWI, the 1920s saw the development of the cloche, a small, helmet like hat that complemented the newly popular bob. Millinery continued to expand through the early part of the century, but custom hats were soon pushed out by ready to wear ones in the 1950s. Since then, hats for women have decreased in popularity – they’re no longer a must-have item for every outfit. Hats are now more likely to be worn for special occasions or for fashion statements than as part of everyday clothing. However, this offers us more options when it comes to choosing whether to wear a hat, or what style. The beginning of the 21st century is one of the most flexible times in fashion history, meaning it’s easier to follow your own impulses, especially when it comes to hats.

One of the loveliest places in America to enjoy the fine art of taking tea, is in a Michigan Tea Room. Located throughout the state, in the regional area of Detroit, Lansing, and the Upper Peninsula, a Tea Room in Michigan can be as varied as the clothes we wear to them!

Some Tea Rooms boast specialty items on their menu, conducive to their particular region. Michigan Cherry Scones are a wonderful find in Tea Rooms around the State! You will also find many interesting “tea related” gift items in many of these tiny, but traditional places. Look for a Tea Room that sells the same scone mix they use from their selected menu items. Ivita Products are a real find in Michigan as they hail from California and are rare in the Great Lakes State area, so look for their many tea related items including a variety of scone mixes, muffin mixes, lemon or lime curd and their imported English Clotted Crème.

When looking for ambience, check out the Tea Room environment. From Victorian to a Proper English Tea Room décor, the choices will astound you. Frequent guests include Red Hat Ladies, Neighborhood Groups, Church Groups, Historical Society Members, and people who just love tea! Having a “special event”?

Call your nearest Tea Room and ask about accommodating your group. Whether it is a Bridal Shower, a Baby Shower, or a Special Birthday, the Tea Room can create an experience your guests will never forget. Seating capacity is foremost to your guest list, so be sure the Tea Room size can accommodate your group.