My Great Aunt Joan and I shared the same birthday. As a kid, that was about the only thing I knew about my Great Aunt Joan, but I was a big fan of hers because every year, to commemorate our shared special day, she would send me a card with a crisp $5 bill inside.
All year I would look forward to that card. And when it arrived, the first stop in spending my birthday money was up the street at our neighborhood Dairy Queen® store. At that time, the mid-1970s, my favorite treat was a Mr. Misty® Kiss—a push-up-style novelty made in stores from a Mr. Misty slush (now known as an Arctic Rush® slush) poured into a plastic tube and then frozen solid. A straw inserted at the bottom of the tube pushed the treat up and out the top. They came in all the Mr. Misty drink flavors, but my first choice was always purple. And as it happened, a Mr. Misty Kiss purchase left me with most of my birthday money still in my pocket.
I love PIE — and I love that we can have fun with math on Pi Day. Pi equals 3.1415926535… and we celebrate Pi Day on 3/14.
Pi represents the relationship between a circle’s diameter (its width) and its circumference (the distance around the circle). I don’t want to spoil the fun you will have searching the Internet, or your math textbook, for interesting facts and information about Pi. I confess to not being much of a numbers gal; still, I find days like this help pique my interest. Who doesn’t like pie and how much dinner time discussion can you get out of learning (or in my case, re-learning) about Pi while eating a piece of pie?
We have DELICIOUS Pie Blizzard® Treats at DQ® stores and restaurants. Why, you could even use Pi to calculate the volume of the DQ Cup in which your favorite DQ Pie Blizzard Treat arrives. Which flavor will you choose? Banana Cream Pie Blizzard Treat? French Silk Pie Blizzard Treat?
Posted by admin under Eats & Treats on May 5th, 2011
I have to admit, there are times that I swear I can’t look at another Blizzard® Treat, sundae or any treat for that matter. Tuesday, however, was not one of those days. I’m embarrassed to admit that until Tuesday I had never tried a DQ shake, never! I know, it’s crazy, because you would think that working at the corporate headquarters would mean I’ve tried everything at least once, right? Wrong.
On Tuesday I had a huge and sudden craving for a milkshake. Maybe I was persuaded by the fact that for the entire month of May, a small DQ milkshake is only $1.99 at participating locations. Or perhaps it was that the DQ shakes are now topped with scrumptious whip cream and a cherry. Needless to say I caved in to my craving, and after work stopped by my local DQ restaurant and ordered a hot fudge and marshmallow shake.
OMG! It was my own personal heaven in a cup. It’s been so long since I’ve indulged in a good ol’ fashion milkshake, and my DQ shake did not let me down! With so many flavors and flavor combinations, I have a feeling I may be embarking on Tour de Milkshake over the next few months.
WOW! We absolutely delighted to hear how much everyone loves the Yule Flip Peppermint Chip and Candy Cane Chill Blizzard Treats we’ve offered in the past. AND we are so sorry to have disappointed all our peppermint fans! I know we’ve responded to several of you individually and on a few of the blog threads.
We want all of you to know that we hear you, loud and clear.
Right now we do have the Mint Oreo® Blizzard® treat available in stores (although we really do understand that it isn’t the same…) and have plans to feature a mint-flavored Blizzard of the Month in December 2011.
My oldest daughter graduated from high school two weeks ago. In spite of a less-than-ideal weather forecast, the commencement ceremony took place outdoors as planned, and while the light rain that fell was not enough to make all of us seated in the bleachers truly miserable, it was just enough for most of the speeches to be cut short. Not necessarily a bad thing.
I was having mixed feelings about it all, of course. I’m proud of my daughter, obviously, and happy that she’ll be forging ahead into all kinds of new adventures. But as the mom who, four years ago during parent orientation at the high school, sat in a dark back corner of the auditorium wiping away tears in anticipation of this very event, it was also a difficult day.
The same goes for last Tuesday when I took a day trip with my graduate to the college she will be attending this fall. She was there to spend the day taking placement exams and registering for her first semester classes, but when we arrived on campus that morning, it took nearly all the willpower I could muster not to toss my child into the trunk of my car and take her back home immediately. Fortunately, she seems to find my copious need for tissues more amusing than annoying. I think we’re both a little surprised at just how emotional this process is turning out to be.
Before we hit the road that morning, my husband, who is very organized when it comes to all things travel related, kindly printed out directions and a map to the college for me, and had marked the map with notes: “Turn left and then a quick right.” “Don’t miss this exit or you’ll end up on the road to nowhere!” and (with an arrow) “DQ® here.”
That last one was especially helpful. Because while I’m not normally one to advocate self-medicating through soft serve, desperate times call for desperate measures. And in this case, desperate measures equal a Banana Cream Pie Blizzard® Treat.
As it turns out, there are a quite few DQ locations between home and my daughter’s new school. I noticed several of the familiar ellipse signs along the way, which is very reassuring. I have a feeling that in a couple of months, when I make that first return trip home without her, I’m going to need every one of them.
OH! Some small part of me always wishes I were still a child at this time of year. The end of school was a huge release from responsibilities (as enormous as they could be for a small child… Ha!). The vast expanse of unplanned summer days stretched out before me… there just isn’t anything like that.
I wonder about summers for kids these days; are there kids who still have wonderful lazy long summer days like we enjoyed? Mom would say, “Be home for lunch/dinner/before dark,” and we were off all over the neighborhood, finding tadpoles in every puddle, up and down the streets on our bikes, playing neighborhood games of Wiffle ball in the streets, or hours of “tag,” “hide-n-seek” or “statue-maker.”
I know my kids didn’t have days like that as we chased after ball games for a good half of the summer with our kids as soon as they could play… Those years when we had three going in three different directions felt like complete madness!
I remember one summer when my parents promised my siblings and I Banana Splits from the local Dairy Queen® store if we would each fill a plastic pail with gravel from alongside the driveway. They did a great job giving us this duty – it wasn’t until I was much older that I understood this was just a way to find something for three wayward children to do.
I think our parents were surprised at how quickly our pails were filled. My sister and I filled ours up quickly; we knew how good those DQ® Banana Splits would be! Our brother was still so small, he couldn’t have really understood what was going on. Some small part of me still feels slightly guilty about my sister and I telling our brother to dump the pebbles from his bucket into ours. It’s only a small part of me and the guilt doesn’t last long. Because I also remember that we all three enjoyed the DQ Banana Splits in the end. I can still see us in my mind’s eye: the three of us enjoying those wonderful cool treats after long hot summer days of digging in the dirt. What a mess! Just the best treat ever.
What do you remember from summers when you were little?
I’m sure all of these things came to mind (Yeah Right!) – but we were thinking more the frozen treat variety – the Dairy Queen®Blizzard Flavor Treat. View the making of the Dairy QueenBlizzard® Flavor Treat by viewing the video below!
Since you’re here, we’re guessing you’ve already got a bit of background on the basic facts of what a Blizzard treat is, so we’ll skip the introduction. Instead, we thought it might be fun to tell you what you may not already know.
14 bite-sized DQ® Blizzard Treat facts:
In 1985, the Dairy Queen system began blending simple combinations of candies, fruit, cookies, nuts and DQ soft serve to create the signature Blizzard Flavor Treat.
The Blizzard is the Dairy Queen system’s single greatest dessert innovation in 23 years. More than 175 million were sold during its inaugural year.
Since the late 1950s, the DQ system has owned the Blizzard trademark–back when it was an ultra thick, rich, shake-like treat without fruit, cookies or candy ingredients.
The Dairy Queen system first used the word “concrete” to describe a Blizzard treat made without any candy added in. Upon further testing, candy was added and the word concrete dropped from the name.
Since its introduction more than 75 Blizzard flavors have been introduced, including Caramel Waffle Crisp, Tin Roof Brownie, Chocolate Xtreme and Strawberry CheeseQuake®.
One-of-a-kind holiday favorites include Pumpkin Pie, Yule Flip Peppermint Chip and, for Valentine’s Day, Choco Cherry Love.
The top five most popular Blizzard flavors are: Oreo® Cookie, Chocolate chip cookie dough, M&M’s®, Reeses’® Peanut Butter Cups and Butterfinger®.
The Dairy Queen system began a Blizzard of the Month program in 2003, spotlighting new and favorite flavors.
Dairy Queen locations in China serve Green Tea Blizzard treats.
On June 21, 2005, the Dairy Queen system garnered a Guinness World’s Record for the largest frozen treat. Built in Springfield, Mass., to celebrate the Blizzard treat’s 20th birthday, the 22-foot, 8,224.85-pound Blizzard treat was made with 2,575 pounds of crushed Oreo cookies and 705 gallons of DQ soft serve.
The incredible popularity of the Blizzard brand led the Dairy Queen system to initiate the Blizzard Fan Club, which has grown to more than 2 million members.
In August, Dairy Queen restaurants across the U.S and Canada participate in Miracle Treat Day, when proceeds from all Blizzard Flavor Treats sold during that day benefit Children’s Miracle Network.
In August, 2002, a man coined “the DQ Blizzard Guy” completed his goal of eating a Blizzard treat in every state, with a visit to a Dairy Queen restaurant in Alaska for his 50th Blizzard Treat.
Popular blogger, entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban spent a day managing a Dairy Queen location in Coppell, Texas after a challenge from us where fans lined up in the street to get a Blizzard treat from him.
