Welcome to the
Poison Ivy Red Hats
Website!
Poison Ivy
Red Hats
Chapter of the
Red Hat Society
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Welcome to the Poison Ivy Red Hats Website! |
Poison Ivy Red Hats Chapter of the Red Hat Society |
| Our (Mis)Rules |  |
[Home] [Regalia] [Events] [Recruiting] [Pink Hats] [Dues] [Contact]
Because the greater Red Hat Society is a DISorganization by definition, the Poison Ivies have no formal rules either. We strongly believe in "doing our own thing", but as a sign of solidarity and Chapterette-hood, we do certain things as a group that our new Chapterettes should join in, hopefully right from the start. We gently hope guests will do so as well, but we cut guests some slack and not "insist" they wear the regalia, at least at their first Event. The only (in)firm (mis)rule is that official Chapterettes, as members of the greater Red Hat Society, must agree to wear the "Regalia" at all "official" Events, i.e., a red hat and purple clothing. A Pink Hat wears a PINK hat (duh!) and lavender clothing.
If a Chapterette is celebrating a birthday in a given month in which we have an Event, she is allowed (and encouraged) to "reverse the colors", just for that one month. This means that she may wear a PURPLE hat, with RED clothing.
How we define Regalia however, is totally up to Queen Elaine the First (QETF). We are a rather shy (if that word can be used in connection with women wearing Red Hats and Purple whatever in public :) Chapter, so we tend not to be very flashy for Red Hats.
QETF has declared that for the Poison Ivy Red Hat Chapter, the red hat is defined as "Red on the Head". It has been interesting to see how various Chapterettes have interpreted this! Sorry, red hair does NOT count, whether you were born with it or not :)
Purple clothing is defined as "As Noisy as Possible Purple". Big purple flowers, for example, on a skirt or top or dress are fine, as long as the purple is noticeable, hopefully even enough to be considered almost garish, i.e., "NOISY!". We will let each Chapterette "do her own thing" with the purple clothing, as long as an honest effort is made. Sometimes we have to hunt for the purple, but as long as it's there, we're fine with that :)
We absolutely do not want any prospective Chapterette to go out and spend money on a special outfit just for Events, but of course, in the best Red Hat Society tradition, this is entirely a personal decision. We do however, expect Chapterettes to dress in the spirit as much as possible at all official Events.
QETF is still a working gal, as are several of our Chapterettes, so our events will not happen on a specific day or time of the month. We try to have a mixture of workday, evening and weekend events so that everyone will be able to attend at least some of them. We also understand that we actually have a "real" life, and that not every Chapterette will be able to attend every single Event. This is fine, and hopefully the mixture of the schedule will still allow everyone to attend when feasible.
Every event will include a meal as feasible, and hopefully the meal will include dessert :) This in particular has been a great way for all of us to continue to bond and to get to know new Chapterettes and vice-versa of course!
In a word, Recruit! Recruit! Recruit! (OK, QETF lied, that's 3 words :) Our Chapter is still small enough that we welcome new Chapterettes. We have not yet decided on how many we can accommodate, but if that time ever arrives, QETF will discuss this with the then current Chapterettes, and it will be a group decision. If a Chapter grows to be TOO large in numbers, the logistics can be a nightmare if everyone actually comes to a particular event, especially one that involves transportation and/or reservations etc. Obviously, tho, everyone coming to the same event doesn't happen all THAT much (darn it!) but we do need to be aware of this. To date, the Ivies have not had this problem.
Right now, we are all Red Hats except for Princess Daughter. We are all Sisters of the Spirit, however, and if any prospective Chapterette of a more... youthful persuasion wishes to join our Chapter, we do not discriminate. Actually, we don't discrimate on ANYTHING at all. What is important to us is the "Hattitude", not the years, nor anything else about a prospective Chapterette. If a Pink Hat does officially join us, and is lucky enough to be very near to the magic Red Hat age, maybe there will be a "Reduation" in her future!
None! The Ivies do not charge dues, mainly because we don't have any group expenses :) However, Chapterettes pay their own way at Events, when costs are involved. QETF tries very hard to keep the Events affordable for everyone by choosing destinations and restaurants that are reasonably priced. Her (mis)rule of thumb is that the cost of an Event, food and all, should not exceed $25. So far this has worked well, and most Events have been far below this for each Chapterette. We strongly believe in carpooling, as well. Um, we will not discuss the Event where QETF "lost" a Chapterette vehicle that was following her back to Charlottesville!
QETF has set up an email list for the private use of the Ivies. If you wish to join the list send a blank email from your usual email account and QETF will approve your request once she is assured you are a Real Person. This is to keep out the badboys! (Or badgirls. We don't want to assume anything) Once you are a member of our email list, please try to check your email fairly often, particularly when Events are drawing near, and the logistics are being discussed. We will not spam you, nor of course give out your email address to anyone but Chapterettes. The use of this email list also helps to protect our Chapterettes' email addresses from those same badboys.
Once you are on the list, please don't include the group address on each and every "forward" you get from your friends. Some are fine, but some folks may simply not want them, or (horrors!) may not share your sense of humor or beliefs. If your forward is of general interest, consider sending it to individual addresses rather than the group list, and to ALWAYS put email addresses in the BCC box to protect the guilty and help foil the spammers.
If your email account is protected by various anti-spam "challenge" methods, please approve group messages (sent from this address: poisonivyredhats@googlegroups.com as well as from individual Chapterettes) so that they will come thru to your account with no delay. Contact QETF privately if you have any questions about this, or anything else regarding the Ivies.