I have my queen palm since 2004 and it has gone through a lot of neglect and still pulled through so I can definitely say they are strong plants (but look best when treated well). My queen palm has seen temperatures around 22F-24F with some damage (the duration of the cold was brief though since it was March when it saw those temperatures). I've considered planting my queen palm in the ground for a few years now, but they can get pretty large as potted plants and they are light palms so they can be moved around from place to place and brought inside pretty easily. Eventually I may plant mine in the ground since it's over 10 feet and getting larger every year, but hopefully I can keep it potted for a few more years.
I heard that there are greenhouses on Long Island where you can send your potted plants for the winter and bring them back to your home for the spring. I dont know anything about it but if they do exist, then you should definitely consider that!
Good luck!
-Alex

Tropicalzone7, thank you for your reply. I don't think I will bring them in, it will be a bit of a hasyle. So would mulch, christmas lights around the trunk and burlap around the trunk (over the christmas lights) be enough to protect it? I also presume being in a colder climate will also prevent them from growing too tall

I would also put a thermocube to light up the temps when it gets too cold.

I don't think you have any realistic chance of a queen where you are. You can probably do it for a few years, make sure the thermocube would go on at 35F. I wouldn't use a 25F thermocube; letting it sit at or around 26-30F for long periods of time would surely do it in. It would quickly get too large to protect though, and it would need heavy duty protection, i.e. waterproof, warm, allow light. You would almost need to build a sectional portable greenhouse around it every year. To me that would get old quickly, and if you're not there full time during protection mode, there are too many things to go wrong that you would need to be there for. I would stick with the trachy, maybe a butia.

Are there any short palms you know of that are hardy to zone 9a or 8b that with xmas lights, mulch and burlap would survive in zone 7a/7b? I wouldn't protect the fronds, but I would keep it at a southern exposure.

Chamaedorea microspadix is a beautiful one! It stays pretty small, looks extremely tropical, and is cold hardy into the upper teens before damage. Chamaedorea radicalis is another nice one that also has some good cold tolerance. They are both extremely slow growing though so try finding a nice sized one.
The impotant thing to consider with mulch is to make sure you are not using mulch that holds in too much moisture. The main purpose of mulch is to retain moisture so find mulch (something like pine needles maybe) that will dry out faster). Water is a killer for tropical plants during cold weather!
-Alex

If you want a palm that stays short go with the Needle Palm. It is a slow growing clumping palm that will easily take temperatures in the single digits or even less without protection.