It's Memorial Day. And you know what that means: it's officially the season to get fat and happy eating in the great outdoors! Yesssss!

This week, I got to try out some delicious ideas by experimenting with a new product by Nestlé: Drumstick Pretzel Dipped Cones. To make things official, they asked me to publish this statement. It sounds serious:

Full disclosure: Nestlé has provided me with free product and other items in order to help with my review, but anything I receive from Nestle does not affect my thoughts on its company or their products.

I wasn't feeling too sell-out-y about getting a freebie, because I am a documented lover of anything sweet that involves pretzels (examples here, here, and here). But here's the thing: after I went to the store and picked up these sweet treats (for free, as you can see above--how do you like them drumsticks?), I had a lot of fun sharing these sweet treats with friends old and young at an outdoor party.

Because for outdoor sweets you want something sweet, easy, and fun. And I believe I've come up with the official 5 best ways to use these sweet and salty cones. Kid-approved, for serious. Here goes:

Idea 1: Uni-Cone cake! I know, I know. I am a genius. How'd I make this happen? Well, I started by making a yellow sheet cake (use whatever recipe you'd like; I used this one). Frost it--preferably in pink. ADD SPRINKLES. I made a little "frame" for it too, using bubblegum (that's bubble tape lining the border!). For the unicorn, you can either draw a unicorn on edible sheets (you can buy them at cake supply stores or here) using edible markers (such as these ), directly on to the cake using writing icing, or you could just cut out a drawing on regular paper (just be sure not to eat it, in that case). Go ahead and copy my unicorn if you want to. And then decorate with licorice or tape candy (such as rainbow taffy) to form a mane and tail. Finally, cut a hole in the cake where the horn would be, directly before serving. Insert an entire Drumstick cone in the hole, and serve fast! Everyone will hope for the "special" piece, I promise.

Idea 2: Sweet and salty pie! Have you ever had ice cream pie? Well, you get ready for a whole other thing. A sweet and salty pretzel-dipped cone pie! How to do it?

Pretzel-dipped Cone Pie

1 9-inch pie shell (I suggest a graham cracker shell)
1 half gallon ice cream (chocolate or vanilla are good, but any flavor you'd like)
1 small bag (you know, airline size type) of pretzels
2-3 pretzel-dipped cones

First, start out with a pie shell. I suggest a graham cracker or chocolate wafer shell. Next, grab a big carton of ice cream. You know, the half-gallon size. Let it sit and soften for several minutes, until it's very soft but not liquid. At the same time, grab 2 Pretzel-dipped cones and a bag of mini pretzels. Cut the pretzel dipped cones into tiny (pea-sized) pieces and put into a bowl, and crush the pretzels.

Line the bottom of the pie with a layer of ice cream.

Add a layer of pretzels and bits of pretzel-dipped cones. Use all of them.

Put more ice cream on top until it is just below the crust level. Put in the freezer for 3 hours to set. Top with whipped cream (I suggest tinting it pink) and if you want to be realllllly decadent, top it all off with another cone on top!

Idea 3: Cone cakes! OMG. Hollow out your cones, spoon out the ice cream from the cone, and melt the done and ice cream in a small bowl in the microwave for about 10 seconds or until liquid.

Add up to 1 cup of the melted ice cream mixture to this cupcake recipe to replace the milk, or just drink it (it's too good!). Bake the cupcakes. They may fall a bit because the ice cream is a bit different than the milk.

Top with the hollowed-out cones after baking, and decorate according to this tutorial. YES!

Idea 4: CONE SHAKE! Talk about a sweet that is easy to prepare and delicious to eat (drink?). For each shake, start out by putting a healthy (and I mean HEALTHY) scoop of ice cream in your blender.

Add an entire Pretzel-dipped cone.

Add a splash of milk.

Blend until combined--thick is best. Pour into a glass and enjoy. The sweet bits from the ice cream are wonderful with the light saltiness from the pretzels, and once you add the lightly crispy bits of cone, well, you're going to pleasuretown!

Image: Family FunIdea that is not mine but I had to include: Castle Cone Cake! OMG. Now, I will tell you, this one is not my idea, but it comes from Family Fun. I simply HAD to include this idea, though, because how delicious is that? They also have a tutorial. Wouldn't this be mega-fun with a slew of pretzel-dipped cones?

Of course...that leads me to my own personal other idea...the grand finale...

Image: NestleIdea 5: Eat the cones! There's nothing like enjoying some ice cream in the great outdoors, and I don't know about you, but Drumstick cones were always a sweet childhood treat for me. It makes me so happy to share treats like this with the likes of my sweet young nephew--here's to creating new memories!