Christmas in July The Elegant River Roses in Wanganui, New Zealand recently held a mid-winter Christmas party. (In the Southern Hemisphere Christmas falls in the middle of summer. A desire to celebrate Christmas in the cold like their northern friends has led to many "mid-winter" Christmas parties, usually in July.) They invited the Tiara Belles of Wanganui and the Strawberry D'Lites of Palmerston North to join the celebration. Melva of the Tiara Belles and Beverly of the Strawberry D'Lites found themselves seated at the same table. They introduced themselves to each other and began chatting. In the course of the conversation, Beverly mentioned that she had lived in Wanganui as a small child. As she shared memories of her childhood it was discovered that Melva and Beverly had been next door neighbors! When Beverly was 7 years old her family moved away and the two young girls never saw each other again—until Red Hatting brought them to the same table over 50 years later!

Snowflake Summer The Royal Rubies of Snowflake, Arizona, recently entered a float in the local Pioneer Days parade. This was the first time that the parade had had a Red Hat entry, and the ladies who rode the float enjoyed the cheers of the crowd! Jane Harris writes, "It took us a few days to decorate and construct a float, but we WON!" Their beautifully decorated float won the Mayor's Award, and everyone is looking forward to next year's parade!

Birthday Bash More than 100 Hatters recently attended the recent 5th Birthday celebration of the Red'n'Purple Ragers, Sunshine Coast (Queensland, Australia). Queen Mother Florence Slattery of Rose City Red Hatters, Warwick, was a VIP guest; Florence celebrated her 92nd birthday shortly after the party date, so it was a "pre - birthday celebration" for her, as well. She kept the crowd laughing with her Red Hat jokes! They also had as a guest Norma, celebrating her 80th birthday on the day. Sharmaine, a member of Brisbane's Mesmerising Ladies, travelled from Ipswich to bring her red and purple wares—clothing, hats and bling—and provided a great fashion parade as members modeled the swanky outfits. They strutted their stuff in a lively manner to the sound of "Pretty Woman," "Candy Man," and other favorites, and raised the roof with clapping and those present joining in to dance along with them.

Once A Queen, Always A Queen! The R & R Ladies With a Hattitude recently coronated their newest Queen, Mandy Potter. Of course, why honor just one Queen when you can honor four of them? Also present to help the new Queen were Queen Matalyn Johnston, who formed the first Red Hat Society club in the Texas community of Robson Ranch in 2003, Queen Carol Delong who took over the leadership from 2004-2005, and Queen Judy Riffel who reigned in 2006 and 2007.

The ParTEA Girls and the Island of O'MaiTai The ParTEA Girls (Ocala, Florida) arrived at the home of their queen, Rose Gripka, and found themselves in a tropical paradise!

As each guest arrived, she was presented with a lei by Queen NaughTEA Rose and escorted out to the crystal clear blue waters of PoolaGripka by the natives (Rose's husband Chuck and grandson Tarin).

They enjoyed Pineapple & Shrimp Skewers, Hawaiian Pork, fresh fruit and vegetables, Pineapple & Coconut Cake, and of course, some Mai Tais; the guests even survived a few Mud Slides! While visiting the island, two of the girls were honored for their birthdays: Ms. DoWaDi-TEA (JoAnn Esposito), and Queen Naugh-TEA Rose (Rose Gripka). SweeTEA Pie Jo Haines was unable to attend but received mention for her birthday, as well.

To commemorate their trip, each lady made a Hawaiian Island Girl out of an old wine bottle, decorating it with a red grass skirt, a sea shell top, and a necklace. The guests also enjoyed playing Limbo to Island music, learning Hula dancing, having a Hawaiian scavenger hunt, snorkeling, swimming and just having great fun together, as they always do! Prizes were awarded to those with the most scavenger hunt items.

In addition to the birthday honorees, those attending were: Ms. Hef-TEA Hef-TEA, Hef-TEA (Debra Desimone), Jaun-TEA Joan (Joan Jorgensen), Lus-TEA Lisa (Lisa Fisher), Seamstress of Sewcie-TEA (Nancy Lumert), Boo-TEAful Baroness (Barbara Pendolino),

Princess PersonaliTEA (Granddaughter -- Tiara Gripka) and a special guest from West Virginia's Rowdy Rebels, Mistress of Mischief (Vice-Queen Donna Falk).