Hi Everyone! 

Everywhere we turn, we see and hear, "Christmas will be here before we know it", or "10 more shopping days until......."

IBAC will be here before we know it!  This premise really hits home when we realize the deadline for free balloon product from Pioneer is January 10, 2003. 

We want to be sure that all of you know that Rouse International is also offering free product again this year to competitors.  We hope that some of you will try some Rouse in your competition piece.  The Rouse deadline for free product is also January 10, 2003.

Contact us directly if you have questions or special framework needs not covered by the 117 products in the catalog.      Email: info@rouseinternational.com

Graham and I will sneak a peek at all of the competition pieces when we bring a midnight snack to competitors on competition night. We are always so impressed by the quality and quantity of work going on in the competition room when we bring in the treats.  We will look forward to seeing some of you there!  This is getting to be a tradition.....this is our fourth year to bring treats.

It always amazes us at each successive IBAC, that year after year the IBAC producers are able to continue to bring fresh classes, ideas, etc., to Chicago.  All of us often have the same client year after year for the same event.  It's HARD to continue to offer new perspectives to the same client/event, isn't it?  In this case, WE are the client.  The IBAC producers have been doing this convention for 19 years, and they still come up with something new each year.  Amazing.

Once again, the classes look way cool.  The instructors are a nice group.  We think the international mix is great.  Everywhere we have traveled, the "styles" of balloon work are so different.  We might like to zip to Italy, but not all of us can do that. Going to IBAC means we only have to travel to Chicago to benefit from different styles and points of view.  And this year, for IBAC Final Night, we are traveling all the way to that land of perfection...........SHANGRI-LA!

We wanted to let you know too that IBAC will be using quite a bit of Rouse this year. .......mostly RMS Banners and RMS Builders.  Graham has also designed a new RMS custom piece for 646's.   All of these "slightly used" pieces of RMS will be for sale at 30% off the normal price.  RMS is so lightweight and so flexible, it will fit right into your suitcase with no hassle. You can pick up your product on Sunday, 3.9.02 in time for your plane.

This might be a good time for you to pick up some product.  If you want to reserve some of this product in advance (.........a good idea, because it goes fast!) just email or call and prepay with a credit card or check.

If you want some instruction and some practice with Rouse at IBAC, there will be several opportunities.  Part of the medieval castle will be made with Rouse.  If you want to volunteer to work on the castle contact Tope Abdule at:  <ballooninsp@aol.com> or just show up in the ballroom prior to Comedy Night.  Tope has a zillion other projects with which he needs help as well.

There will also be a lot of RMS work for Final Night.  Again, if you want some Rouse hands on as well as help out IBAC, trek down to the ballroom.  There will be plenty of Rouse to work on and tons of other stuff.
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We are teaching two classes this year.  The "FINAL NIGHT MURAL" class will be a major hands on RMS class.  This is your opportunity to work along side Graham.  We will be producing the mural (Well......, it is so beautiful, we are calling it THE TAPESTRY!) for Final Night.  We are using thousands of 5" balloons in order to get good detail.  You don't want to miss this chance for hands on with RMS.  The Tapestry is going to be a "beaut"!  It will look great in your portfolio.  We expect to have a grand ol' time.  Come be a part of the creation of this masterpiece! .

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Our other class, "TURNING THE TABLES ON TABLES" is going to be fun too.  We are going to take tables and make designs with them.  We really like big buffets that are not just for food service, but major decor for the event as well.  We've got a cool covered wagon..........you could even make it a wagon train if you want to.  We'll also talk about a wishing well,  Mardi Gras float,  flower cart, cake, and an ice cream parlor. 

Graham and I have a frame which we will share with you.  It just sits on top of a 6' or 8' table.  We use it all of the time to make ribbon canopies for booths and other table top configurations.  It comes apart and you can store the pieces easily until the next time you need it.
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We also want you to know that we will have some of the cool new 260 Matrix for you to try out, if you want to.  We will have 160, 260 and 350 RMS along with regular RMS at the IBAC General Store.

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We are very excited about IBAC this year.  We are so looking forward to seeing each of you in Chicago.  IBAC will be here before we know it!

Our Best For The Holidays To Each Of You And Yours,
Graham and Mary Queen Rouse