Who are or what is The Crimson Capers you may ask? Only the best chapter in all of the Red Hat Society! (My chapter, of course!) I am the founding Queen Mum, aka Queenie-Martini, although where that moniker came from is beyond me…*Ü*
I first registered the chapter in October of 2004. Originally, I formed the chapter because my mother found the whole idea so much fun. Unfortunately, she was only able to attend the First Annual Holiday Tea & Fol-de-Rol in December that year before she became ill. But let me tell you, she enjoyed every minute of it! I can still see her holding court (Hey...I’m the Queen, Mom!) in her gorgeous purple suit & stylish red hat! Her spirit of fun & frivolity lives on in the chapter even today!
Now 3 years later, we are a group of mostly strangers who have come together to form a sisterhood, and I mean that in the literal sense of the word. We are sisters; in silliness, in caring, and although I dread the day it comes, even in sorrow. I would never have had the joy of meeting most of these women had it not been for the Red Hat Society. These are my best girlfriends, the ones I want to “come out & play” with! We range in age from 34 to 81. If you are under 50, you wear a pink hat & lavender clothes instead of the red hat and purple clothes – because you aren’t ripe yet! Our pink hats help to keep us on our toes, and they give us a chance to “share” from our accumulated uh, err…wisdom!
Some activities we have enjoyed over the years are:
- The Crimson “Cazoo” Caper – to celebrate National Kazoo Day. We had dinner out & serenaded the restaurant patrons on our “Cazoos”, for which we received thunderous applause! Who wouldn’t clap for “God Bless America”?
- A Red Hat Bridal Shower for Queeni-Martini
- A lantern tour of the Old Sacramento Cemetery for Halloween
- One-Stroke painting class/Pottery painting at Petroglyph
- Reverse Trick or Treating – we dressed in our finest regalia and handed candy to whoever answered the door!
- 3-day camping trip to Coloma Resort
- Building our (gingerbread) Dream Houses
We don’t need an excuse to have fun – we just do it! It is good to give yourself permission to play dress-up, to eat dessert first, and to enjoy a great time with good girlfriends doing whatever suits your fancy! Most of us have raised families, worked jobs and been loving companions and wives. Some of us still do these things, especially the “Pinks”. It just feels pretty darned good to get to the place in your life where you can have fun without any specific purpose except for fun’s sake!
If you need some fun in your life, and don’t know any girls you can play with, give the Red Hat Society some consideration! Find a chapter near you on the RHS website -www.redhatsociety.com.
Better yet, start your own! It is wonderful to be Queen. It is your chapter. Make it yours. It can be as much or as little work as you want. I personally do the things I like doing, hand off those I don’t to willing chapter members. I am blessed to have Lady Duh…, my Queen of Vice (second-in-command) who is a whiz of an organizer and will always step up to the plate when I need her! What would I do without her? Be sure to get yourself a really great soul sister to help out!
I wish you much laughter & joy this season! I also hope Santa brings you a Red Hat! It’s an invitation to more Merriment & Mirth than you can imagine!
Chris
HRH Queenie-Martini, Queen Mum of The Crimson Capers
