4th of July Layered Jello Jars

Jello?! That's not crafting, that's food!
AHA!
Well anything, really, can be turned into crafting my friends!

I saw the most adorable craft / recipe on Tip Junkie last week, the 4th of July Patriotic Party Jello Snacks,   and I knew it would be perfect for the MOMS Club 4th of July potluck picnic! So I rustled up some baby food jars, not to be had in our house for many, many moons - but in the club I easily found a few...dozen.. really - I am Good for jars for a while now, thanks to my friend Ann! And so I began this adventure in Jello.

I wanted to do the jars layered, but I didn't want to use the marshmallows or cool whip like the instructions said, so I looked around and found this cool recipe for layered jello over at the Food Librarian where she uses condensed milk & unflavored gelatin for the white. Then I just modified and mixed the two recipes to result in my creation:

I used Strawberry Banana Jello for the red, the Condensed Milk recipe for the white, and Berry Blue Jello for the blue layer. Instead of spray painting the lids, I opted to craft them up: scallop circle punch in red, white circle punch, and a blue star punch. The fabulous ribbon is a steal from the Dollar Store, and the tag is a re-sized and fancy punched version of this cool 4th of July free printable .

Strawberries sliced and placed into the jars, Jello added - chill for 15 minutes

White layer added, chill another 15 minutes - longer might be better

Added some fresh blueberries, and the blue Jello

Chill to perfection!

I was really enjoying this jello adventure, and bub was SUPER excited to try some! Then, It hit me -- the picnic is at a park. Where they don't allow Glass. Where small children might not do well with glass... oh #FAIL!!!

So, Plan B went into action!!
I went back to the Food Librarian recipe, got some more unflavored gelatin and supplies, and made some Patriotic Finger Jello! I used the recipe exclusively, but went for 3 layers instead of the 5 or 7 she mentions. I omitted the fruit this time in the interest of easy cutting, and came up with THIS creation:

3 layer Patriotic Finger Jello

Called Finger Jello I suppose due to its thicker consistency than the jiggler recipe on the box, this recipe will allow you to cut with cookie cutters and have it stand up to little fingers without separating. It was pretty delicious, as I did have some rejects in the cutting and display - bub and I both indulged in a few pieces!

He would say its delicious, but hes too busy stuffing his face!

 It was super easy to make, I had it in the fridge setting up within an hour, and then cutting and arranging it after it set overnight was a quick 15 minutes. Great tasting - I used Cherry for the red, Condensed Milk for the white, and Berry Blue for the blue.

chilling away in all its glory

reject plate for snacking, but you can see how nice the layers set up

I highly recommend this for a contribution to your holiday feasting, it was easy and tasty - if you like jello! But I would caution, it does take normally non-dairy Jello which is a good snack option for those restricted diets and adds the Condensed Milk layer - making it still a Gluten Free snack, but now definitely containing dairy. There may be other options for a white layer, there was mention of a Pina Colada flavored jello, but I did not see that in the many flavors carried at my supermarket.

Enjoy! and have a Safe and Happy 4th of July!!
P.S. The jars I made anyhow, and they will not go to waste - I'll dole them out to our friends and family as we party over the weekend! Yay!