The Red Hat Society celebrated its 10th anniversary on April 25, 2008, with a grand celebration taking
place all across the U.S. Now numbers 40,000 chapters.

Organization
The Red Hat Society fondly refers to itself as a "dis-organization" with the aim of social interaction,
and to encourage fun, silliness, creativity, and friendship in middle age and beyond. The Society is not
a sorority or a voluntary service club. There are no initiations or fundraising projects.

A founder or leader of a local chapter is usually referred to as a "Queen". Members are called "Red Hatters".
Members 50 and over wear red hats and purple attire to all functions. A woman under age fifty may also
become a member, but she wears a pink hat and lavender attire to the Society's events until reaching her
fiftieth birthday.

Activities
Both Red and Pink Hatters often wear very elaborately decorated hats, and attention-getting fashion
accessories such as a feather boa at the group's get-togethers. The Society's events vary depending on
the chapter, but one of the more favored pastimes amongst most Red Hatters is attending or giving a tea party.

The organization has published four books: Red Hat Society: Fun and Friendship after 50 and Red Hat Society's Laugh Lines: Stories of Inspiration and Hattitude, Designer Scrapbooks the Red Hat Society Way (2005, Sterling), and The Red Hat Society Cookbook which features recipes submitted by members. Two other books, My Red Hat, and My Red Hattitudes, published by Red Wheel/Weiser, also reflect the incredible personalities of these women who call themselves Red Hatters. Regional gatherings called "Funventions" are held several times a year, along with official Red Hat Society events.

The official Red Hat Society day is April 25 each year.

In 2006 the group successfully commissioned its own musical titled, Hats! The New Musical for the Rest of Your Life.

In popular culture
The Red Hat Society is paid homage to in one episode of The Simpsons, "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas," wherein Marge joins a group called The Cheery Red Tomatoes.

Also, in Brian Crane's comic strip Pickles, the character Opal is a member of The Red Hat Society. In the show Still Standing, in the episode "Still Cruising" Bill's mother, Louise, is a member of The Red Hat Society and tricks Judy, her daughter-in-law, into going on a Red Hat Society cruise with her.

Also, in the hit stage comedy Peachtree Battle, eccentric matriarch Azalea Wieuca is made an honorary Red Hat member.

Corner Gas, a Canadian comedy sitcom has one of the main characters, Lacey Burrows, join the 'Purple Hat Society', making a reference to the Red Hat Society

In the comic strip Mother Goose and Grimm a red-hatter is shown sitting with the College of Cardinals. One of the cardinals informs her, "Madame, this is not that kind of red hat society."

The Red Hat Society is featured on an episode of the CBC show The Week the Women Went, wherein a contingent of members descend on the small Canadian town of Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia to visit the shops, restaurants and services while the women of the town are away on vacation.