The Blizzard® 25th Birthday Challenge continues with the Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard Treat.  In this video you will see me go on location to find Blizzard Fans, and you’ll once again have a chance to win a $10 Dairy Queen® gift card! Don’t forget to check out the 25 Flavors for 25 Years Menu!

We Already have a Winner!!! Thanks to everyone for participating!

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Our Blizzard 25th Birthday Challenge Schedule:

Chocoholics:

• Jan. 11: Turtle Pecan Cluster
• Jan. 18: French Silk Pie
• Feb. 2: Chocolate Xtreme
• Feb. 09: Midnight Truffle
• March 9: Georgia Mud Fudge
• March 23: Mocha Chip

When military personnel travel overseas, they miss many of the sights and sounds of home. Oftentimes, the country where they are stationed has a different language, different climate and the stresses of political or religious unrest, all of which can make it even more difficult to be far away. Luckily, some military personnel in Afghanistan are able to enjoy a little bit of home in the form of Dairy Queen treats.

Three DQ locations are currently open in Afghanistan, and all are located on military bases. A Dairy Queen corporate employee received this photo from a friend who is currently stationed in Afghanistan. In the area where he is stationed, military personnel are able to get DQ treats through their military exchange store.

How wonderful that these soldiers can still enjoy some of the “comforts” of home. Even when far away from their loved ones, perhaps a little DQ treat helps brighten their day.

When it comes to the topic of monster trucks, there are some extremely avid fans out there. Many years ago when one of my nephews turned four years old, I took him to a monster truck rally because it was what he wanted more than anything in life.

I will never forget that day. He was a young boy stocked with ear plugs and his eyes were as wide as saucers. He stared unblinkingly at the action. The noise was deafening, but the more noise the crowd of thousands made, the more noise the trucks made. I wondered about him becoming scared of the screeching and booming chaos all around us, but his smile never once left his face.

During a break nearly half-way through the event, I purchased a poster of Grave Digger for him to take home for his bedroom wall. Grave Digger, the world’s best-known monster truck, weighs 10,000 pounds, costs nearly $250,000, can jump 100 feet and crushes cars like ants with its 66-inch tires. My nephew held that rolled up poster like it was pure gold worth millions of dollars.

I couldn’t help but remember that day when I first heard about the Monster Jam event held in Tampa, Fla., last year that was a tie-in with DQ^® restaurants in the Tampa market , the Children’s Miracle Network and all Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla. The best part of all is that in addition to Grave Digger, there was a truck included in the Monster Jam owned by local residents Bill and Vicki McShane that is styled in Dairy Queen^® colors. The McShane’s escorted Curly Top^® the DQ mascot, as well as Miracle Families around the infield of each event. The kids got to meet the drivers and get autographs, and kicked off the event with a lap around the stadium.

Those kids must have had a blast! I can only imagine it would be quite similar to the reaction my nephew had many years ago. I’m sure it was the creation of a memory they will have for the rest of their lives, and it’s another example of how the DQ system makes a difference.

When I learned that Punxsutawney Phil gave his “official” prediction of six more weeks of winter (whose idea was it anyway to listen to a ground hog?), I decided there just might be a fun way to survive the next few weeks and begin to think about the warm, sunny days of spring. My family and I decided to have a “Blizzard Bash.”

If you’ve noticed, right now every DQ store has a list of 25 Blizzard flavors from throughout the past 25 years to celebrate the 25th birthday of the world famous Blizzard Treat.  The goal of our family “Blizzard bash” is to try all 25 of the Blizzard flavors collectively by the start of spring—before the 21st of March.  Four members of my family still live in the same town, but my oldest daughter lives in Auburn, Ala., and the beauty of the “Bash” is that we can all still participate at our local DQ locations, even though we are miles apart.

Everyone has their all-time-favorite Blizzard flavor. For me, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, it’s Oreo®. Sometimes the Blizzard of the Month tempts me to try an exciting new flavor, but I always revert back to my favorite. The idea behind our Blizzard Bash, however, is to “think outside the cup,” and tip our taste buds upside-down.  The first week we each selected our favorite Blizzard flavor, of course, but from there, we had to select a new Blizzard flavor from each of the four flavor categories—Cookie Lovers, Candy Cravers, Fruit Fans and Chocoholics. 

As we each try the 25 flavors, we will rate them to develop a “favorites” list for our family. When we’re done, we’re going to take our list down to our local DQ stores in Virginia and Alabama and see if they will post them in their lobbies as “Smith’s Family Favorites.” Who knows, if you’ll join in, maybe we can have a national Blizzard Bash and turn every town across the nation, shall we say, upside-down!

CBO Corner Audio Blog:

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We hope sharing it with you makes you smile, too.  And it comes with a story:

Eight-year-old Hailey Fine had an assignment. The third grade classes at Fox Trail Elementary School in Davie, Fla., were staging a vocabulary parade, and each student had to make a costume to represent their vocabulary word.  Hailey’s word was “blizzard.” So Hailey decided to represent her word by making a costume of our famous Blizzard Treat.  Talk about creative!  Not to mention an appreciation of DQ treats that we at American Dairy Queen Corporation love to see in our next generation of fans!

We love the costume.  It’s an Oreo® Blizzard treat, which is our best-selling one, and Hailey even thought to add our signature red spoon.  Now if she were only doing a hand-stand… since Blizzard treats are served upside down!

Thanks for thinking of us Hailey, and providing another “smile and a story” for us to share!

In addition to the meals that we packed, IDQ made a donation to Feed My Starving Children to help defray the cost of ingredients and packaging of the food. It was a great experience and so rewarding to know what a difference a few hours of our time can mean to children and families in Haiti and other countries!

If you are interested in learning more about Feed My Starving Children, visit their website at http://www.fmsc.org or check out their Facebook page.

We have a strong Community Service Team here at the Dairy Queen corporate headquarter in Minneapolis, and in addition to the year-round work IDQ does on behalf of Children’s Miracle Network, we are always looking for new opportunities to serve in our community. In fact, “Service” and “Supporting our Community” are two values the entire IDQ team holds dear.

What are you and your families, or the companies you work for, doing to make a difference? I know that there are more good deeds happening than are ever noted in the media!

The Blizzard® 25th Birthday Challenge continues with a Valentine’s Day special for all of you romantic types–and espiecally for the chocolate lovers–with the Midnight Truffle Blizzard Treat. Since it’s so close to Valentines Day, I invited a special guest for this challenge: my wife! She will also be providing the ever famous Blizzard Spoon Rating! Thank you to everyone who answered the trivia question in last week’s Blizzard Challenge. Don’t forget to check out the 25 Flavors for 25 Years Menu!

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Our Blizzard 25th Challenge Schedule:

Chocoholics:

• Jan. 11: Turtle Pecan Cluster
• Jan. 18: French Silk Pie
• Feb. 2: Chocolate Xtreme
• Feb. 09: Midnight Truffle
• March 9: Georgia Mud Fudge
• March 23: Mocha Chip

I don’t know about you, but up here in Minnesota we were TOTALLY excited about the Super Bowl possibilities for our Vikings, only to have our hearts broken last week.  Still, the Super Bowl is a lot of fun and always an opportunity for a party.  At the minimum it is a game-and-commercial-watching-snack-fest!  Even those of us who aren’t football crazy can enjoy this game. If not, it’s always a great time to go shopping.  Do your part for the economy! The malls and department stores can be pretty quiet during games like this.

Now, the opening ceremonies for the Olympics on Friday, Feb. 12, may not be top-of-mind when considering reasons for parties.  But consider the following: the opening ceremonies for the Olympics become more and more spectacular with each Olympics, and more and more folks have fabulous HD-TVs.  I’ll bet the opening ceremonies will be absolutely spectacular in HD!  If you have an HD-TV, have a party, invite your friends!

I admit, Valentine’s Day can be tricky depending on the status of your current romance.  With a little creativity, however, it can be a fun time for anyone: there is the traditional quiet and romantic time with your sweetheart, a party with several couples could be a fun way to celebrate, and have you ever considered having a “Who Needs ‘Em Anyway” party?  Everyone loves chocolate and desserts… mmmmm!

With all this party planning you might need a hand with your snacks and treats.  Shameless plug, I know, and at the same time, your local DQ® stores and restaurants have yummy novelties — Dilly® Bars in a variety of flavors, Buster Bars®, StarKiss® Bars, DQ Sandwiches, and even no-sugar added bars for your guests who are really watching their figures.  Perhaps you and your guests would prefer a DQ Cake or a Blizzard® cake festively decorated for the occasion.  A decoration and dessert all in one!