What is the Red Hat Society?
After a group of friends received a red hat and a poem written by Jenny Joseph titled “Warning” depicting a woman of middle age wearing a red hat and purple dress, they in turn adopted such attire, publicly meeting to celebrate in fun the change of life. The Red Hat Society began to evolve in 1998, by Sue Ellen Cooper of Fullerton, California. She is the woman who enterprised the society from its beginnings and is referred to as “the exalted queen mother”. Initially Ms. Cooper began meeting for tea parties in their regalia of red hats and purple outfits. The idea caught on and others wanted to be apart of this phenomenon of fun and color celebrating life after the age of fifty. While embracing the change of life with zeal and enthusiasm, “Red Hatters” share together life’s happenings not only in small groups at public restaurants, in larger group at places of entertainment and conventions known as “Funventions.” Since its beginnings, The Red Hat society has grown into a large conglomer
The Red Hat Society is a social club for women to come together to celebrate the bonds of sisterhood. The group was started by Sue Ellen Cooper of Fullerton, California, who was inspired by Jenny Joseph’s poem Warning and the narrator who plans to wear a red hat and purple outfit when she is an old woman. Sue Ellen Cooper created the Red Hat Society to encourage women to embrace their sense of humor as a tool to make new friends and better cope with the challenges of life after 50. The Red Hat Society is a group for women who need a chance to relax after spending their whole lives nurturing their spouses and children. Of course, the Red Hat Society also hopes to take away some of the stigma society places upon aging by encouraging women to look at growing older as a fun and exciting experience. To join the Red Hat Society with full membership benefits, you must be a woman age 50 or over. If you are under the age of 50, however, you can join as “Pink Hatter” and still attend all of the
Feeling bolder in your old age? The Red Hat Society might be just the ticket for fun and companionship in your retirement years. The Society bills itself as an international “disorganization” of middle-aged women who live with gusto and wear – what else? — bright red hats. The Red Hat Society started in July 2000 when Sue Ellen Cooper, of Fullerton, California, sent a red hat and a copy of Jenny Joseph’s poem, “Warning” to a friend for her birthday. The practice quickly snowballed and a burgeoning circle of friends began gathering for tea dressed in red hats and purple dresses. Today Sue Ellen, the Society’s “Queen Mother,” organizes several conventions a year for mass frivolity and publishes a quarterly mini-magazine of “Red Hatter Matters” to the 256,000 members worldwide. The Society’s $35 yearly membership fee covers the operating costs for the organization’s six staff members. Members younger than fifty are encouraged to join and wear pink hats and lavender dresses until their fif
Because I am over 50, I am able to belong to a Red Hat Club. There are chapters all over the world including the one I belong to in Colorado Springs, CO. . But what exactly is a Red Hat Club all about? It started alittle over 10 years ago when a woman named Sue Ellen Cooper took a friend out to lunch for her 50th birthday. She had read a poem about wearing Red & Purple after 50.so she gave the friend a Red Hat. The next time they went to lunch they wore their red hats and purple dresses. As time went on more friends joined them as the Red Hat Society was born. And now ladies under 50 can also belong but they wear pink and lavender. There is only one rule for the clubs -” to have fun” and as a result very strong sisterhoods have formed. Besides going out as a group all dressed up, there is alot of charity work being done too. Some other activities are participating and riding on a parade float in London on New Years Day, taking cruises, holding and attending High Teas and so many other
