Hatboxes

Hatboxes have been around since the Chinese dynasties although there popularity has decreased and their uses have changed over the years. They can still be found in places on and off the Internet.
They can be find in closets storing women's hats, they can be find in bedrooms holding the potpourri or in living rooms matching the décor.
Mostly today they are used for storage of many things except hats, given as gifts and gift containers and as accents to home décor.
Hatboxes come in many shapes, sizes and a variety of materials. Heavy cardboard is the most used medium when making them. Though the boxes labeled as "hat boxes" often cannot fit a hat into them the use of the name often describes boxes of elongated shapes, round and others short in stature. You'll never fit a hat into one.
The materials used to make them include plastic, paper, cardboard, leather, wood and fabric or a combination of these materials.

EBay is a source for "vintage hatboxes", reproductions and old round boxes. The word "vintage" is used to imply that the boxes are old and or antique. They are fairly inexpensive averaging $15 - $22 dollars. Some of the decorative boxes do have minor flaws but most are in very good condition. Unless of course they are a real " find", rare and have no damage in that case the even the price on EBay goes up.
Hatboxes are not the easiest to find. I have done many searches online and the biggest source for them besides EBay is wholesalers. As I said before most of these boxes don't and can't hold hats but the name sticks. You can also get some specially made through a company in England called Pandora's Box and Sarahs Hatboxes in New Hampshire. Sarah's website doesn't include the price and ones from England can be a little pricey. It's best not to get them from a wholesaler as they may require you to buy in bulk not one at a time.

Vintage is not the only word used to describe and search online for hat boxes; There are other descriptive terms used to find them such as:
Decorative
Round
Floral
Oval
Decorative gift
Wedding card boxes
Victorian
Keepsake boxes
And
Rectangular hat boxes
These are the most popular terms you will see describing them.

When she was alive the press in America stated that Princess Diane was considered to have made hats more stylish and desirable for women to wear. She wore some very lovely hats and wore them very well. I do believe she had hatboxes to avoid damaging her costly hats.
Queen Elizabeth of England is most often seen with a hat on her head. Her collection of hat boxes must be extensive. I'm only guessing! She may simply keep them in a dressing room and have staff on duty to keep them clean and free of dust and damage.
Ladies of high standing in society often wore hats. Hat boxes were initially made to hold men's hats and became a booming business to hat makers in addition to making the hats. The ladies and gentlemen took great care in keeping their hats as beautiful as the day they purchased them. When not wearing their hats and or traveling hatboxes were used to keep the hats free of dirt, dust and damage.
In some ethnic communities wearing hats to church on Sunday is a must. Many of them are expensive works of art. None of the "ladies" would be seen on Sunday without their creative and often colorful hats with gloves and clothing to match.

Some Uses for hat boxes as gifts or storage for:
Anniversary gifts
Artist tools and supplies
As time capsules
Baby Gifts
Bow ties
Business Cards
Collector's items
Cookies
Coupons
Craft project supplies
Dolls clothes
Dried flowers
Flower seeds
Hair accessories
Hats
Housewarming gifts
Jewelry
Keepsake items
Knitting needles, sticks and yarn
Lingerie
Mother's day presents
Nylons
Old love letters and cards
Old newspapers
Old photos
Perfume bottles
Potpourri
Receipts
Scarves
Sewing needles, scissors and spools of thread
Socks
Stationary
Store displays
Thank You gifts
Toiletries
Toys
Wedding gifts
And
Even to store dog treats

The Red Hat Ladies wear red hats and purple dresses to their meetings and other social activities. They are easy to spot in a room with many distinguished looking red hats. Ladies under the age of fifty wear pink hats. To protect their hats I am sure some of these ladies may use protection for their hats.
The Red Hat Ladies have surely kept some hat makers busy. This is groups of women mostly over the age of 50 who have joined together to uplift themselves, to age gracefully and have lots of fun doing it.
In their literature they describe themselves as an organization for women dedicated to making the world a better place and actively support, fun, friendship, freedom, fulfillment, fitness for each woman as well as demonstrating the value and contributions of women to society at large.
Copied from their website at: http://www.redhatsociety.com