A Note to our Families

Before we announce Kazapalooza 2013, we wanted to give you a snapshot of what goes into choosing a venue. As KP has grown each year, the blessings of meeting more and more families from all over the states and Canada have been amazing. Picking a suitable venue has become an incredible adventure and challenge. We as a group have a set weekend date, no corporate funds, and an unusually large amount of children. What a great problem to have! Having a set weekend limits our flexibility in choosing venues but we believe that being able to plan ahead each year is what our family’s desire most. Children activities and access to kid friendly places has to be high on the list also. Many conference centers have great pricing but cater to mostly business conferences (boring!) Pool size alone limits many places and some offer great room prices but 40,000 dollar food and beverage minimums. It is a fine balance we seek to maintain economics and good quality fun for all of our families. KP was created to establish lasting relationships for our children, raise money for children in Kazakhstan and have lots of fun doing both! These are lofty goals but goals we feel have been met by the last 5 years of Kazapalooza. Each year, we have succeeded in keeping costs at the lowest possible within our constraints. In addition, we have tried to improve on the things that did not quite work the year before based on comments/ feedback and trial and error. KP will probably never be perfect but rather perfect for us, the Kaz adoptive families, as long as community, bonding, and memory making remain our main goal along with raising funds for a charity. Texas definitely held up its end of the stereotype. Everything indeed seemed to be bigger, better, and with that, higher priced. We tried many scenarios with multiple venues, services, out of the box thinking, charter buses, and western themed towns. You name it, we researched it. Texas is big, people! We are very happy with the venue that we chose this year. It has a little of everything we like to offer. It is not where we originally thought we would be but apparently everyone else was going to be there too and they are going to pay big bucks to be there. Registration might look a little higher this year to account for higher food costs but room rates are lower so we are hoping that everything averages out to a workable budget amount for everyone. We are excited to announce that Kazapalooza 2013 will be just right for marvelous Mavericks, bright Stars, wild Mustangs, crazy Cowboys, and rowdy Rangers….sounds like a perfect place for a bunch of Kaz kids to us…..more details to come! Registration will begin in February! Your KP Planners