Partyhat

Partyhats, also known as phats for short, are obtained by opening Christmas crackers, dropped during the 2001 Christmas event (Although this is not advised because you will get a much lesser value item). There are six different coloured partyhats, all with the same shape. When worn by a player they resemble a crown. Because they are discontinued, they are very rare and much sought after. Partyhats can usually fetch between hundreds of millions of coins when sold, however they don't give any stat bonuses and are usually worn to show wealth. These are currently some of the most valuable objects in RuneScape. They are either used as junk to trade extremely rare items, or traded with junk depending on the current street prices (probably due to their 1% trade margin, and not being able to keep up with current street prices.) An important factor in the price of partyhats is due to a glitch that allowed players to create any non-stackable item, the price of partyhats (especially the purple partyhat) was drastically changed after players abused this glitch by creating many partyhats. (See Partyhat duplication glitch for more info.)

Due to their high price, they have become recognised as a symbol of wealth in the game by players and non-player characters alike.

The partyhats
There are six partyhat colours: blue, white, red, green, yellow, and purple. There is a rumour that a Black Party Hat once existed, but it is false. The least expensive partyhat is the Purple Partyhat, the most being Blue. Pink Party Hats did exist in RuneScape Classic, although all Partyhats were just named "Partyhat" they were distinguishable by the colour of the item, the item which in RuneScape today is called the "Purple Partyhat" was coloured Pink in RuneScape Classic.

Blue partyhat

White partyhat

Red partyhat

Yellow partyhat

Green partyhat

Purple partyhat (thought to be a pink partyhat in RuneScape Classic and on the first release of party hats)

Jagex on hats
Jagex have stated that they do not wish to recreate the effect that partyhats have had on RuneScape's economy. This is the reason that tradeable holiday drops were replaced with events with untradeable rewards.

Trivia

 * When examined, partyhats say "A nice hat from a cracker.", which refers to Christmas cracker, which when pulled gave a partyhat and a few other items.
 * When examined in Runescape Classic, partyhats say "Party!!!".
 * It is rumoured that it was no longer possible to High Level Alchemy or Low Level Alchemy a partyhat. This is not true, the partyhat will simply disappear. The player however, will be prompted with a confirmation message as for all items with a Grand Exchange value of 500,000gp or higher.
 * Previously, bald players with partyhats grew hair when wearing one. This was fixed by Jagex.
 * A graphical glitch that came out few months back allowed hair to stick out of the partyhat. It also enables you to see your hairdo, when in fact most hairdos cannot be seen whist wearing a partyhat. Unequiping & reequiping the partyhat will cause the latter to happen. The glitch can be induced again by re-logging in to Runescape.
 * Partyhats have become one of the most expensive items that offer no bonuses.
 * The Wise Old Man has an updated version of a partyhat, which is not released for player-owned partyhats.