Get ready to celebrate, because on the first day of spring, things are about to get super chill. On Wednesday, March 20, beloved purveyor of frozen confections Dairy Queen is giving away free ice cream cones to welcome spring back in a big way.
The deal is pretty sweet. On the first day of spring, Dairy Queen is giving away a free small soft serve cone at participating locations. The press release also stated, "Following Free Cone Day, DQ is offering a small regular or dipped soft serve cone for 50 cents, available for redemption only with the DQ mobile app, March 21-31 at participating DQ and DQ Grill & Chill locations. This offer includes the new DQ orange, creamy and crunchy dreamsicle dip, or try the DQ classic chocolate dip."
I did not even know that there was a dreamsicle dip, but now I need to try it. I was completely obsessed with the orange-vanilla popsicles when I was little, and now I love desserts that replicate that tart-sweet combination. Although that doesn't make me any less bitter that DQ stopped serving butterscotch dip. That dip was delicious and now that it's gone I find that I am left slightly bereft by the loss.
There are few simple joys in life more pure than an ice cream cone. Growing up in Northeast Ohio, we measured our years by when the local Dairy Queen opened and closed for the season. My childhood world revolved around the period between March and October. Every time I eat at a Dairy Queen I am overwhelmed by the nostalgia that lingers in the air and in the flavor of the cone, the swirl at the tip.
My MawMaw would pile my siblings and I into her Buick Skylark and we would head over to the Dairy Queen drive through in Massillon, Ohio, where we would all choose the our favorites. My sister was quite partial to the Blizzard, but me? I loved a chocolate dipped in chocolate or vanilla dipped in butterscotch. (Again, I'm salty about this.) There is just something so luxe in the combination of crackly coating and smooth, rich ice cream. It's best when it's freshly dipped, and the tip and edges are still warm and just beginning to set up. The clash in temperatures and textures make the experience. Even if children do tend to make themselves a bit of a mess as they eat it.
In the press release, DQ wrote that their marketing team found some pretty hilarious insights regarding how we eat our ice cream. One that stuck out to me is that they found that "61.6 percent would share a bite of their DQ cone with their significant other, but only 23 percent would share the first bite." No mention of parents and children. They are polling the wrong audience. (Though I'd totally let my husband have the first bite if he lets me have some of his cone.)
Funny thing about being a parent. There is a widely-known phenomena that is the "Mom tax" that dictates that as I pass back an ice cream cone to my children from the front seat, that I might take a bite off the top. If my children disagree with this practice, they can take it up with their congressperson. Alas, my children usually end up eating half of mine as well, because "Wow, Mama, yours looks yummy, can I try it?" And they're just so stinking cute, and I'm just such a sucker, that I totally hand it over. Ice cream is a treat, but it's even better when Dairy Queen is giving away free ice cream cones, because free makes it that much sweeter.
