IMPORTANT

Please read this and remember it each time you are invited to a Red Hat Event!

THERE IS A REASON FOR ASKING FOR THE RSVP

The Hostess needs to know how many ladies she needs to prepare for at any event.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR INVTATION!

The RSVP Date is important, too.

A simple yes or no and the money sent in if requred

by the deadline date is all that is asked of you.

Many times the Hostess needs to give a number attending to the restaurant where the gathering of Hatters will take place.

If you have to pay in advance, please send your money in by the deadline date.

In the past we have had to pay for ladies that said thEy were coming and they never showed up.

In the future, if we do not hear from you by the deadline date, we will not call to remind you and it will be your own fault if you miss out on some really good fun!

I have been visiting with many Chapters over the past month and have been asked the same question by most Chapters about Hats. My birthday is in March so I wore red clothes and a purple hat at these gatherings. I was asked about wearing the colors and if there were any rules.
Many ladies thought you only wore a purple on the exact day of your birthday and didn't know you could wear purple your entire birthday month.
I was also asked if you had to wear a hat at gatherings.
I answered by saying this is a "hat society" and the entire society was started with someone wearing a "red hat".
I did find out while visiting with different Chapters that some wear purple and all the flashy bling but No Hats. Some Chapters have an ugly, silly hat that the ladies have to wear if they "forget" their hat. One Chapter even has the ladies pay a fine of $1 if they don't wear their hat and the money goes into their funds.

I copied the info below from the "Official Red Hat Web Page" and this is what Sue Ellen says about Hats.

Are there any rules?

The spirit of the Red Hat Society forbids rules, per se. There is, however, ONE inflexible guideline that we must insist upon:

You must be a woman of 50 or over (or you may be a Pink Hatter under 50), and you must attend functions in full regalia, (red hat, purple outfit for women 50 and over, or pink hat and lavender outfit for women under 50).

Ladies are strongly encouraged to follow these color guidelines, and to NOT wear purple/red until they have reached THE BIRTHDAY. This adds an element of fun to aging, which we think is invaluable to women in our society who have learned to dread aging and avoid it at all costs. We believe that aging should be something anticipated with excitement, not something to dread.

WHAT ABOUT "UNOFFICIAL" CHAPTERS?

The information below came from the Queens to Queens Broadcast that Sue Ellen sends out to the Queens. Please remember to keep your chapter registered.

"UNOFFICIAL" RED HAT SOCIETY CHAPTERS

Sharon Brown (Saintly Red Germain-iums, St. Germain, Wisconsin) addresses the issue of "Unofficial" Red Hat Society Chapters: "If a group of ladies want to be a part of the Red Hat Society, the only way to do that is to register their chapter. If they don't register their chapter, they are just a bunch of ladies going out to lunch in red hats. I find it upsetting that unregistered groups still refer to themselves as chapters in the Red Hat Society.
Very frankly, we find it upsetting too. These groups may consider themselves "Unofficial Chapters" but there is no such thing; either you are genuinely a part of something or you're not. Our attorney, Joel Wright, has this to say: "We certainly do expect chapters to pay annual dues. It is a very nominal amount, and any chapter that does not participate but still pretends to be part of the Red Hat Society is violating the intellectual property and other rights of the Red Hat Society."