Dairy Queen Is Practically Giving Away Blizzards

Dairy Queen is offering a huge discount on Blizzards to celebrate the start of summer and its new lineup of flavors. On Monday, the company announced that all Blizzards would cost just 85 cents from April 10 to April 23. At these prices, you’ll be able to try all three new flavors without breaking the bank.

DQ has five new Blizzard flavors available now for a limited time. The first is called the “peanut butter puppy chow blizzard,” which has a vanilla soft serve ice cream base blended with peanut butter, chocolate chunks and a mixture of cereal called puppy chow bites. The second is the “Oreo brookie blizzard” – vanilla soft serve mixed with brownie-cookie pieces and Oreos. The third is the “s’mores blizzard,” a mixture of soft serve, graham crackers and chocolate pieces filled with marshmallows. The fourth is the “cotton candy blizzard” – soft serve ice cream with cotton candy sprinkles – and finally, the fifth is the “chocolate dipped strawberry blizzard,” which is soft serve ice cream blended with strawberry and chocolate chunks.

All those new treats are available now for a limited time at participating Dairy Queen locations, but frugal fans might want to hold out for the big sale next month. The company is celebrating the start of summer as well as the anniversary of the Blizzard itself. These blended ice cream treats were first released in the summer of 1985, making 85 cents the perfect sale price.

Dairy Queen itself first opened in 1940 and was the first store to sell soft-serve ice cream. It was invented by John Fremont McCullough and his son Alex, who worked with their friend and local store owner Sherb Noble to market it. After seeing its success in Noble’s store in Kankakee, Illinois, they opened the first official DQ in Joliet, Illinois. Nearly half a century later soft serve was easy to find everywhere, but DQ continued to innovate new desserts like the Blizzard.

In the current fast food landscape, DQ stands out for its outdoor, walk-up style of ordering. However, this didn’t protect it from the COVID-19 pandemic entirely. The company skipped its annual “free cone day” in 2021 and 2022, but this month it finally returned to form. On March 20, any customers could pick up a free small vanilla soft serve cone while they were there. Between that and the upcoming Blizzard promotion, it’s shaping up to be a big summer at DQ.