Years ago, our grandmothers had creative re-purposing uses for everything. One of those brilliant tips has somehow been lost on my generation, and I feel it’s my duty to get you as excited about this as I am.
The Magic Bullet has been a “As seen on TV” craze for years. I am sure that our elders are chuckling at us when they know that the Magic Bullet can be the easiest DIY project ever by just cleverly re-purposing an every day item.
Create your own “DIY Party Bar” by using a small mouth mason jar and attaching it right to your blender in place of your typical blender jar. You heard me correctly. Use your own Mason Jar Blender and create SO many fun drink concoctions in your own personal size blender.
Our family uses our blender probably five times a week, but we always run into the problem of trying to decide which kinds of smoothies and frozen drink to create. With five children, everyone has their own preference. This has been so much fun because everyone grabs their own mason jar and creates their perfect gourmet drink. The kids love non alcoholic Strawberry Margaritas and Pina Coladas and now they can have both with out the clean up hassle.
Not only is this perfect for smoothies and drinks, but it can also be used to make whip cream right in the jar, grind up coffee beans or even spices in a pinch.
Most blender bases screw into any standard sized Mason Jars (not the wide mouth versions), so first remove the base from the regular blender container. Screw on the base (with the seal) to the mason jar, making sure it’s tight. Then, invert the jar and place on the blender Use as you would any blender, food processor or grinder.
I can’t wait to create a festive DIY Party Bar for our next large gathering. I have purchased a ton of mason jars lately because they are just fun for everything, especially serving drinks. I’ll have a variety of fruits, slushie flavors, coffees, drink mixes, ice cream and ice, allowing people to get as creative as they desire, and I know this will soon become a fabulous, new party tradition.
I can’t wait to see what you come up with. If you need ideas, check out my Magic Bullet Recipes and Snack Ideas page, but don’t worry, now you have the perfect DIY Magic Bullet capabilities right at your own finger tips.
If you are in the market for the real thing, there are some great deals going on at amazon Magic Bullet MBR- 17-Piece Express Mixing Set
My Cantaloupe smoothie 🙂
Who knew! Love this idea!
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This is so cool…..I can’t wait to try this.
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OMG I’ve had a magic bullet for YEARS & had no idea I could do this! I have tons of mason jars so it time to pull the bullet out!!! Thanks. 😉
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I will try it with my blender and see if it fits. It would be less dishes for me because I just make smoothies for myself. I did find it funny though that there was an add for the magic bullet at the bottom of the post 😉
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Jen Reply:
April 16th, 2012 at 10:24 am
Ha – that is funny. That is the “magic” of google for you. They pick up key words and put in the ads. 🙂
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I had no idea a Mason jar fits on a blender like that! Thanks so much for sharing!
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Ok, this is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing this! One of my girlfriends was going to buy a baby bullet, but I’m going to share this with her and see if I can’t save her $80!
makes you wonder what other nuggets of wisdom we’ve missed!
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This is fabulous! I just tested this out with my blender and it works. Thanks for the tip!
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What a great tip Jen – I love it! I am a big smoothie fan, but the kids – not so much! Maybe if they make their own individual mason jar creations they will enjoy them more! I have plenty of jars! I hope our jars fit our blender – if not, I see blenders at GW and SallyAnn all the time!
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How on EARTH is this not common knowledge? You’re absolutely right when you say that our elders are shaking their heads at our foolishness. We’re so eager to spend money on all these new contraptions… They just take up space on our countertops and eventually make their way into our garage sales to end up on someone else’s countertops!
I will be SURE to share this tip with all my friends. Thank YOU for sharing it with us!
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this is a neat idea – care to share what brand of blender you use?
Thanks
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Jen Reply:
April 16th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
The one in the pictures is my Cuisinart, but nearly all standard blenders will work.
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Just did it this morning and it worked perfectly!! thanks sooo much:)
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I had to laugh when below today’s post was nothing other than a magic bullet ad! LOVE the idea & will be trying it soon with my kidos – perhaps for snack today 🙂
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Jen Reply:
April 16th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Poor Magic Bullet ads. Google gets them all excited with my key words and little do they know I am stealing business from them. Although, I will say, if someone doesn’t have a blender, the Magic Bullet is a fine little tool. 😉
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I must have the most goofy blender on the planet….standard size mason jars are too small an d the wide mouth are too big….sigh….oh well! Thanks for the suggestion anyhow!
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Thank you , Jen. I was just considering a Bullet because I wanted to start making protein shakes several times a day. Your tip will save me money I don’t really have or shouldn’t spend. I have a Cusinart blender/food processor so it should work just great!
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Wow.. I had no clue.. Great info…. I’ll pass it along to my daughter… shes got one of the Magic Bullets I got her for Christmas one year.. Thanks!
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Awesome! I had no idea mason jars would fit a blender.
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Thank you! I will definitely be trying this soon. I hate having to dirty the blender jar AND a glass when I make smoothies 🙂
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Ooohhhh!!! How fun!! I will have to try this out! Although lately I’ve been making such large smoothies, I just stick a straw in my blender and use that as my cup. LOL! 🙂
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Okay–I’m gonna give this a try today for the kids’ after school snack. If I make a disaster of a mess, will you come clean it up for me? 😉
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Jen Reply:
April 18th, 2012 at 1:22 pm
No, but will you love me anyhow? You’ll know before you add anything if it works. If it screws on to fit, you’re set.:)
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I have an Oster blender. They used to make small, one cup size containers with a screw on lid especially for small batch things like baby food. They are just a plastic jar with measurements marked on the side like the blender container and I have saved them from earlier versions of my blender. I guess that was pre-bullet.
For Jolene – in Canada there is a jar size called either Gem or Jewel, which is between the standard and wide mouth size opening. I don’t know if there is an equivalent in the US, nor do I know if they are still being made. All mine are hand-me-downs or thrift shop finds.
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Thanks for testing this out, Jen! I ‘d seen it on pinterest a year ago but wasn’t willing to be the guinea pig! Works like a charm and my kids are having smoothies for quick breakfasts and after school snacks.
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Jen Reply:
April 21st, 2012 at 11:20 am
I had not seen it on pinterest, but SO glad you tried it and are enjoying it.
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AND guess what? Classico pasta sauce jar lids fit onto the mason jars if you need to store leftovers in the fridge!! (Which probably means the jars would also fit the blender if a person didn’t have a mason jar.)
I have been having so much fun with this–made salsa in my mason jar today, and now I can just pop the classico lid on and I don’t have to fool with plastic wrap, a bowl in my fridge, or a dirty blender pitcher.
This is my newest favorite tip, and it’s gonna be a long time before it gets beat, I think–thanks a zillion!
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Jen Reply:
April 21st, 2012 at 2:53 pm
WOOT! That is so fun! Yes, their are other jars that fit, but they are not as sturdy as the mason jar, so they might break. Love the jar lid tip because I am ALWAYS losing my mason jar lids. 🙂
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Chris Reply:
July 16th, 2012 at 10:49 am
@Jen, Update: Classico is changing their jars so all of the new ones no longer work with mason covers. I’m bummed – that was always a bonus when buying their products – free jar!
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Thank you so much for sharing this. I have always wanted a “Magic Bullet” and now I can have my own. Yahoo! Thank you, thank you.
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Heehee!!! I finally tried doing this today! 😀 It is SO fun! Thanks for the idea!
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Been using this trick for 30 years with my Oster blender. I used to make my son’s baby food by putting in whatever we had for dinner and some broth and he ate the same foods we did. (obviously with appropriate foods for baby). Have used many sized jars for many items over the years.
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The only problem I have had is that I have lost 3 seals since I started this 1 1/2 weeks ago…for some reason it gets sucked up into the blade 🙁 I guess I will have to go back to doing it the old way. Not sure whats wrong!
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Jen Reply:
September 10th, 2012 at 9:08 am
Sorry to hear that, Ashley – I have never heard that before, since my seal is always as tight on the blender as when I use the actual blender one itself.
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Just wanted to add that Best Foods/Hellman’s mayonnaise jars also work… I’ve been doing this for years…
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Used a Marie’s Chunky Blue Cheese jar. It has an irregular shape but worked.
One thing to consider about safety, is that the standard container that comes with your blender is thick. On thinner containers, such as a mason jar, vibration can cause a weak spot in the container to fracture and possibly shatter. If that were to happen then the results could be horrendous. So please take caution when using this method. Inspect the jar, slowly ramp up speed, don’t look at it for long periods of time.
Thanks for the idea.
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Jen Reply:
January 4th, 2014 at 10:33 am
Great word of caution. I appreciate it.
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Just a note on the durability and strength of tempered glass ( Mason Jars, Ball Jars, el. al.). I am nearly seventy years old, and have been using these jars for canning for over fifty years!! Believe it or not, you can take one of these jars from freezer to microwave or from freezer to pressure cooker with no worries about breakage!!!
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Tried this with a Baby Bullet and standard mason jars, and sadly, it didn’t work. Not sure if I did something wrong…
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Jen Reply:
April 29th, 2014 at 8:53 pm
I think because the baby bullet doesn’t have the traditional base that a blender does. It’s a different size. BUMMER!
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Can you post a pic of your party bar? Sounds like fun but a lot of preparation. I’ll start with my kids first before I committee to a large group.
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Miracle whip plastic lids fit mason jars.
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I did this with coffee and my jar is stuck on the blender base! I have tried all morning to get it off.. I do not believe you should use hot or warm liquids.
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