If you’re on Pinterest or Facebook, I’d dearly appreciate it if you could use one of the buttons above! Thank you, now lets get ready to celebrate with these Patriotic Jello Jars!

Adults like to play with their food, too!

Every summer, I make Rainbow Jello Jars for the kids. It is kind of our fun way to kick off the beginning of the season. I usually make a dozen (because that is what canning jars come in) and the kids ration those puppies out like they’re gold! A few are given to treasured friends (they divvy them out like gold doubloons) and the others get eaten over the course of a week or so, each relished with great flair as they get to actually eat a rainbow!

A year or two ago (time has entered warp speed for me so I have no idea which) I posted a pic of our rainbow jars on Facebook and got a LOT of comments from folks asking me how I did them so I thought I’d share a little tutorial with you on patriotic jello jars that would be fun to have for your July 4th celebrations, but first, here is the original pic that got so many comments:

I’ll tell you how to do these at the bottom of this post.

Whichever ones you do, Patriotic Jello Jars or Rainbow Jello Jars, it makes you look cool in the eyes of your kids and is fun to do together – or even by yourself!

For the patriotic Jello Jars you’ll need: six 8 ounce jars, blue jello, red jello, and instant white chocolate pudding.

If you have generic jello use that, name brand is not the important thing here.

You’re also going to need a little blue food coloring if you want your blue to be a true patriotic blue like mine is because the box just makes more of a sky blue.

To mix up your jello, get a cup of water really hot either by boiling it or heating it in the microwave.

I’m a rebel. I use the microwave. I’m sure there are studies that show using/standing next to/owning/or thinking about a microwave will cause genetic mutations and the like but I see this as an added bonus as it gets me one step closer to growing that third arm I’ve been needing for so long!

To the super hot water (a.k.a. boiling) stir in your jello until completely dissolved. If you want yours blue blue blue like mine, Add a few drops of blue food coloring because the stuff in the box turns out more sky blue than American blue.

Now, we want our gelatin to set rather quickly so we can move on with things. The speed set method on the box says to mix up ice and ice water until you have a cup, then add that.

The Christy speed set method says just to mix up your jello in a tempered 2 or 4 cup glass measuring cup, then add some ice cubes to the mixture until it reaches the two cup mark on your measuring cup. Stir that up until the ice cubes melt and you’re good.

Divide it evenly among your six jars. You’ll end up adding 1/3 of a cup into each jar if you want to be precise but I just prefer eyeballing it.

Precision is for mathematicians and economists…wait..I think we should just stick with mathematicians on that one these days.

Put your tops on the jars and place in the fridge until set, about half an hour.

Once that is set up a little, mix up your white chocolate pudding. I just use a quart jar to mix mine in.

Do you remember in the eighties when Bill Cosby was a spokesperson for Jello? He rocked that, love me some Bill Cosby. Anyway, they sold this special “Jello Pudding Shaker” that was basically a quart sized cup with a lid on it to shake your jello in. We got one and tried it, and went right back to our original pudding shaker, pictured above 🙂

I love canning jars because:

They’re reusable

They’re dishwasher safe

If you have new lids, you are able to can in them over and over again should the need ever arise.

They can withstand hot temperatures but you can also freeze things in them.

They are a great way to store grains such as rice or even dried beans for long term use.

In a pinch (or if you just get the inclination) they can double as drinking glasses

They make excellent additions to your emergency preparedness stash.

Oh yeah, back to the pudding.

Pour your pudding powder in the jar with the milk and shake that puppy like it’s a polaroid picture!

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, shake it really hard for a minute, then blow on it and watch to see if you looked good in it. Oh wait, I was talking about pudding…ok just shake it.

But don’t shake it too much because we want it mixed but still soft.

Now add a little layer to each of your jars, but don’t add quite as much as you did the blue because you’re gonna wanna eat some of it.

I’m serious, this white chocolate pudding is the bum diggity.

Now we need to return these to the fridge for another thirty minutes or so.

I always* save the boxes my canning jars come in because they make storing them so easy.

The original boxes are great to use when shuttling rainbow jello jars back and forth to the fridge. I just put the entire tray in there for half an hour.

*I say always loosely because I always save them but my husband sometimes throws them away. When he is throwing things away though, it usually means he’s cleaning so we let it slide. Life is sometimes about letting things go – especially if it means someone else is cleaning up a mess you most likely made. ~smiles and batts her lashes~

After thirty minutes, mix up your red layer just as you did the blue…

Carefully spoon the red onto the top of the pudding.

You can pour all other layers but the layer on top of your pudding needs to be spooned on to avoid disturbing the pudding.

We don’t want disturbed pudding. No telling what it would do! 😉

Yummy and pretty!

Now return this to the fridge for at least another thirty minutes, or until ready to serve.

Happy Fourth of July!

Now that you have these Patriotic Jello Jars, set aside some time and make these puppies…

Instructions for both are below!



Patriotic Jello Jars Print Ingredients 3 ounce box Berry Blue Jello

3 ounce box Cherry Jello

3.3 ounce box instant white chocolate pudding

6- 8 ounce canning jars with lids

Blue Food Coloring Instructions In a 2 or 4 cup glass measuring cup, combine one cup boiling water and blue gelatin powder while stirring constantly until dissolved. Add a few drops of blue food coloring until a patriotic blue is reached. Add enough ice to bring the water level up to two cups and stir until ice is completely dissolved. Divide gelatin evenly among the six jars (about ⅓ of a cup in each jar). Can use a canning funnel to make this less messy. Place jars in original divider box they were purchased in (if you still have it) and put in the refrigerator for about thirty minutes. Mix up white chocolate pudding according to box. Divide it evenly among jars by spooning it on top of blue layer. Cover jars again and return to the refrigerator for thirty minutes for pudding to set. Remove gelatin jars from fridge and remove lids. Mix up red gelatin just as you did the blue and carefully spoon on top of white chocolate pudding. All other layers can be poured but this one needs to be spooned on top to avoid disturbing the pudding. Once all red gelatin is used, place lids on jars again and return to the refrigerator until ready to serve. 3.5.3251

Rainbow Jello Jars Print Ingredients 5 different colors of 3 ounce packages gelatin

12- 8 ounce canning jars with lids

Original canning jar box for ease in preparation Instructions In a 2 or 4 cup glass measuring cup, combine one cup boiling water and first gelatin powder while stirring constantly until dissolved. Add enough ice to bring the water level up to two cups and stir until ice is completely dissolved. Divide gelatin evenly among the 12 jars. Can use a canning funnel to make this less messy. Place jars in original divider box they were purchased in (if you still have it) and put in the refrigerator for about thirty minutes. Repeat until all five colors are used and jars are full. Great summer fun for the kids! 3.5.3251

Your life is a limited edition. Enjoy it now!