Looking for ideas for your next Red Hatting get-together?

Active & Outdoor Ideas:
  • Mini golf / croquet / bowling
  • Ice skating / rollerskating
  • Visit the snow
  • Go on a bushwalk
  • Pool party / beach party
  • Dance party / dance lessons
  • Hot air ballooning
  • Fishing
  • Horse riding
  • Visit the botanical gardens / zoo
  • Picnic in a park
  • Boat ride
  • Peddle boats on a lake
  • Go to the horse races
  • Play active games at home or in a park (see the game section for game ideas)
  • Scavenger Hunts
Cafe/ Restaurant & “Going out” ideas:
  • Yum cha / banquet / high tea (You could do the high tea in fancy clothes or fairy costumes etc.)
  • Icecream parlour or dessert only dinner
  • Pj party in a cafe or restaurant
  • “Fancy” meal at Mcdonalds – bring silverware, tablecloths and dress in finery to eat your burgers!
  • Go to the theatre / cinema / casino / karaoke
  • Eating by the Alphabet – Pick a restaurant with a name starting with the letter “A”. Next outing pick one that starts with “B” and so on.
  • Eating By numbers – Choose a number and try to incorporate that into your day as much as possible. Eg if you choose number 7, you could pick a restaurant that has #7 as the street number, eating at 7pm, eating the 7th item on the menu or selecting items that cost $7 etc.
  • Progressive dinners – start your meal off at one venue, then move to a new venue for the next course.
  • Go on a shopping spree tour to a discount outlet like DFO
  • Go on a tour of local “Op Shops”
  • Visit craft markets & farmer’s markets
  • Organise a Red Hatter swapmeet (maybe with another chapter) where Hatters get together to swap/trade/sell their unwanted Hatting goods.
  • Pampering day – hot springs / manicure & pedicure / makeovers / day spa
  • Do a glamour Photography shoot
  • Hire out rooms at a hotel (that has a pool) and have a mini overnight holiday
  • Visit a brewery / winery / chocolate tasting tour
  • Visit a museum / art gallery / heritage building
  • Take cooking classes
  • Visit a craft shows
  • Road Trip – Hire a bus or minibus and go on an outing together for the day or weekend
  • Mystery car trip – Carpool and convoy to a mystery location (The leader knows where to go!). If you’re worried about everyone getting lost, you can tell them a location to go to (like a carpark in a certain town), but the ladies won’t know what you’ll do until you tell them. You might like to at least give them enough of an idea that anyone with a food intolerance or mobility issues isn’t going to get there and then be unable to participate. Also they should be made aware of the cost before they go.
  • See our printable “restaurant bill slips” to make splitting the bill easier at restaurants/cafes!
General ideas:
  • Dress as your royal title – For a bit of fun have everyone dress up as something to do with their Royal title! So for example Countess Champagne might decorate her dress with champagne corks
  • Calendar – Create a calendar at the end of the year from photos of your Chapter from throughout the year. You could even do a funny “sexy” calendar with each member taking on a month and having a glamorous photo shoot.
  • Debutante Ball – for the ladies who haven’t had one, have a Red hatter one!
  • “Fake Wedding” – where you hold a wedding ceremony for fun
  • Game show – Make a gameshow like family Feud.
  • Celebrate “0” birthdays – (60/70 etc.) and have a “Golduation” when turning 80
  • Masquerade ball – Dress up in your finery and wear masks
  • Literal Fashion show
  • Bag Lady Fashion show
  • Mystery Dinner (Wacky dinner served at home)
Home based ideas:
  • Craft days to make a Hat / fascinator / sash/stoll / jewellery / scrapbooking / quilting
  • Bra hat making – Have a craft day turning bras into hats. Place the centre chest part against your forehead and pin the ribcage straps to make a snug fit around your head. Sew this and cut off the shoulder straps. Use pipecleaners or boning sewn from the centre V point to the back of the head to add stability and provide structure that you can decorate with a feather boa – then decorate the cups!
  • Pot Luck (bring a plate). Either any foods, or bring food that fits with a theme or letter of the alphabet
  • Share a meal – Everyone makes a large portion of their favourite dish, along with some empty containers (have some takeaway containers in case people forget) and everyone can take home a portion of different dishes so that they end up with several meals worth of new foods to try.
  • Share a soup/stew – Each member brings along a homemade soup/stew (whichever your chosen dish is), and some empty containers, and you can enjoy a lunch of different soups and the ladies can take home leftovers to put in the fridge/freezer for later.
  • Fashion Show – You could set a theme and have the ladies all bring an outfit for that theme, then have them walk the runway to show them off.
  • Gift exchange / book exchange. Book exchanges can be ones where the members bring a book they have finished (wrapped in brown paper), they all go into a pile and everyone picks one out at random.
  • Reminiscing party – bring old photo albums to show everyone.
  • Cooking day – Someone can lead a cooking class on how to make a certain dish then you all eat it.
  • Show & Tell – The ladies bring along something meaningful and tells everyone about it.
  • Pajama party & movie night (or day)
  • Paint & Sip – Get crafty and do a painting while drinking champagne (or tea if you prefer)
  • Home spa – Get some foot soak products and have the ladies bring along a tub they can soak their feet in, and any handcreams they like, and you can have a pampering spa session.
  • Game Day (board games, trivia etc.)
  • Wedding Dress day – Have a fun lunch at home wearing your wedding dresses (even if you no longer fit into them), or buy one from an op shop to wear.
  • Mystery Dinner (Wacky dinner served at home)
  • Bag Lady Fashion show
Theme ideas:

These could work for dressup days, food choices, restaurants to visit etc. You could pick them from a hat.

  • African Safari / Zoo
  • Ancient Mythology (Greek/Egyptian etc.)
  • Arabian Nights / Aladdin / Bellydancers
  • Bollywood
  • Burlesque
  • Camping
  • Circus
  • Countries & Cultures
  • Disney Princesses (Cinderella / Snow White etc.)
  • Eras – 1940s/1950s/1960s/1970s/1980s etc.
  • Fairytale / Fantasy
  • Halloween / Horror
  • Mad Hatters Tea Party
  • Mardi Gras
  • Masquerade
  • Medieval
  • Mermaids
  • Pirate
  • Phantom of the Opera
  • Pool Party
  • Solve a Mystery
  • Superheroes
  • Victorian / Steampunk
  • Western
  • Wizard of Oz