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Mrs. Cub, Chile/Portland Age and Occupation: 26, Astronomer Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Astronomer Engagement Date: May 10, 2008 Wedding Date: September 2009 Venue: Westwind YWCA camp About Me: I'm a small-town girl who's making a living in Chile, with her heart in the Pacific Northwest. I grew up in Southern California, went to high school in Texas, grad school in New Mexico, and now I can't wait to settle down in Oregon! I love pears, hazelnuts, knitting, traveling, running, baking, and long talks on the phone with good friends. I'm planning my Oregon coast summer camp wedding while abroad with my best friend - I'm always at home when I'm with him!
About Mrs. Bear Cub

While my plans for dressing up the dinner tables are slowly coming together (thanks to you guys! :) ), I have a solid idea of how I want to decorate the tops of the tables. Like a lot of you, I swoon over aqua-blue mason jars.

Mason Jars: The Hidden Killer! :  wedding decor reception Www.weddingbee http://www.weddingbee.com/ source via twobrides

Since our venue doesn’t allow open flames, I plan on filling our mason jars with pretty vegetables and flowers. I’d love to have that glow-y effect of the flickering candlelight behind aqua glass, but it’s just not in the cards. I need the aqua jars, though. Need them.

Seeing as how I’m a whole hemisphere away from my venue (and my family), I can’t exactly troll through antique stores and Goodwill at my leisure.

(And collecting 40+ quart size mason jars locally and bringing them with me on the plane is rather impractical.) So, I did what any tech-savvy bride (on a budget) did – I started looking on my favorite site, eBay, I scoured the classifieds here on the ’bee, and I looked in the Portland Craigslist (my super awesome future step-MIL (FSMIL) has been the best with helping me locally!).

The result? Aqua mason jars are expensive. Like, really expensive. Unless you find them wholesale somewhere, you should expect to pay around $5 – $8 each, after shipping. I don’t buy that, though. I’m of the mindset that the value of an object is set by the buyer. I think these things should cost around $1.50 – $2 each, after shipping. Call me stingy, but it’s just old glass.

I must have been right, because I found my preciouses for $1.50 each on Craigslist, and in Portland. The seller has a lot of canning equipment. I told him I wanted to buy around 50 quart-sized aqua mason jars, and he said he had more than enough!

Mason Jars: The Hidden Killer! :  wedding decor reception Www.weddingbee http://www.weddingbee.com/ source via Bliss’d

This was great! Fantastic! I’d get my deal, and it’d be local!

But then the seller “educated” me on a few legalities of mason jars. He asked me if I was planning on using these for a wedding (let’s call it a “family reunion”, shall we?). He told me that if I planned on putting candles in the jars, he absolutely wouldn’t sell them to me. And if I was planning on drinking from the jars (I wanted to also buy around 80 normal jars to use as glasses), he also wouldn’t sell them to me. Um. WEIRD.

They don’t make mason jars like they used to. Apparently there’s a high probability that your beautiful antique blue mason jar will EXPLODE if you put a candle in it! The guy selling the jars said he was sued recently because a jar exploded at a wedding, injuring a guest! Also, he informed me that it’s illegal (at least in the state of Oregon) to sell canning jars for the purpose of drinking beverages. He recommended I buy these “drinking” mason jars from a supermarket – these organizations are too large to prosecute feasibly.

As much as I’d love to have beautiful mood setters like this:

Mason Jars: The Hidden Killer! :  wedding decor reception Mason Jar Candles

source

… I don’t want my guests to risk injury! If you’re planning on using mason jars for candle holders, be careful! I recommend using newer jars (but don’t quote me on this – I’m not the expert!).

Mason Jars: The Hidden Killer! :  wedding decor reception Www.weddingbee http://www.weddingbee.com/ source via JenaD Events

This seller also helpfully informed me that certain types of flower food can dissolve the old aqua glass. I told him I was planning on using the jars for flower vases (this, apparently, was acceptable to him).

I thought I had all my ducks in a row (no candles! no drinking from the jars! no flower food!), so I asked my awesome FSMIL to coordinate locally with the seller. Turns out, he’s a complete kook. He yelled at her on the phone, proclaiming about how these aqua-blue mason jars are special, antique… they weren’t meant to be used at weddings! And he wasn’t going to sell them! And how dare she suggest that! Did she know that they could EXPLODE at any minute?? (Aqua-blue floral grenades!)

So- whatever. We washed our hands of this potential bargain; the red flags were definitely going off. But I’m still looking for aqua-blue quart sized mason jars. :(

I really don’t know where to look now. Do you know of someone who wants to sell their aqua-blue quart-sized mason jars to me? :) Or do you know of someplace to find them for relatively cheap?

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74 Responses to “Mason Jars: The Hidden Killer!”

1 2 3 4 

1.
Member Icon
Member
April.H (message)  187 posts, Blushing bee

Woah that is one crazy sounding dude. I don’t know where to find any of those but if you can’t find any you could try dyeing the water aqua blue in regular jars and see how it looks. It could be awesome it could be tacky. I haven’t tried it myself. Good luck however you do it though!

 
2.
tessabella76
Hostess
tessabella76 (message)  3,143 posts, Sugar bee

OMG what a wacko!

 
3.
worcesterbride
Member
worcesterbride (message)  603 posts, Busy bee

Why do weddings bring out the crazy people? Why???

Sorry about your Mason jar problems, hope you find what you’re looking for!

 
4.
pren79
Member
pren79 (message)  664 posts, Busy bee

Wow, this is an interesting journey down the mason jar procurement! Never knew something so simple could turn into something so complicated and CRAZY! I’m going the supermarket route (or ask my family/friends to keep their jars for me…)

 
5.
GeorgiaPeach
Member
GeorgiaPeach (message)  55 posts, Worker bee

I hope this helps you because it SAVED me. They won’t explode and it cost loads cheaper+ it was easy. I feel hesitant to share this link because then everyone will be in on my secret haha but here it is:

http://bridalbuzz.blogspot.com/2009/01/glass-jars-turned-vintage.html

Go crazy! I did!

 
6.
Guest Icon
Guest
carrie

I’d say the aqua jars are really neat and different, but the clear ones you buy at the supermarket or are more readily for sale are still nice. Why not go with those.

 
7.
futurejet
Member
futurejet (message)  108 posts, Blushing bee

I am also on the hunt for those amazing aqua mason jars. So far, we have managed to procure one! Good to know about all those potential hazards. Good luck on your search!

 
8.
Guest Icon
Guest
Andria

Why don’t you just take regular old mason jars and dye them blue? I remember seeing a post somewhere on how to do this. If you’re interested, PM me and I’ll try and send you the link (if I can find it).

Also, I happen to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 175 wide mouthed (very important) pint sized jars. Lemme know if you need them. :-)

 
9.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Cloud (message)  800 posts, Busy bee

Oh my crazy exploding jar man!! I’m glad you got away from him! Good luck finding your jars though, they will just look perfect in your venue :)

 
10.
IvyClimb
Member
IvyClimb (message)  2,612 posts, Sugar bee

@Andria: If Miss Bear Cub doesn’t want them (and of course she gets first dibs), I’ll take 175 wide mouth pint Mason jars!

 
11.
Guest Icon
Guest
Guest

This is hilarious and really helpful. Who knew jars could cause so much drama?

Georgiapeach, that is AWESOME!

 
12.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Quiche (message)  3,150 posts, Sugar bee

What a weirdo!! Hilarious.

I saw these at the Chicago antique market last weekend & they were $18 EACH! Umm…yeah, whatever!

 
13.
Member Icon
Member
ruby39 (message)  14 posts, Newbee

Hey Bear Cub! If you can’t have open flames, try battery-operated flickering tea lights. They look exactly the same, minus the dangerous flame. I’ve seen them a lot in restaurants lately, and I couldn’t tell the difference. Here’s a link – http://www.save-on-crafts.com/votive.html – That way you’ll have the pretty glow, but no open flames!

 
14.
poodle
Bee
poodle (message)  3,386 posts, Sugar bee

that was funny!! and those jars are lovely.. dont give up :) I know you’ll find some (Abrazo)

 
15.
Champagne Wishes
Member
Champagne Wishes (message)  1,187 posts, Bumble bee

What an insane little man! Have you thought about going on ebay to get LED candles by the lot? They have about 72 for $50 or so. You could have your flickering glow!

 
16.
Guest Icon
Guest
Anna P

Oh my goodness, I know who you are talking about! I am also a Portland bride, getting married in a few weeks, and I have seen that guys (VERY VERY LONG) craigslist ad when I searched for Mason Jars online. I was just thinking of calling him, but now I know not to.

I have about 50 Mason jars (quart size) that I will be using for our wedding this late July in Portland. Don’t worry, just as flower vases. They aren’t blue, and my sister and mom might want to keep them, but if not maybe you would want to use them for your wedding? Let me know – annalouise04@hotmail.com

 
17.
Miss Star
Bee
Miss Star (message)  2,106 posts, Buzzing bee

I was just about to suggest LED tealights, but was beaten to the punch :)

We’re using them in the theater because there are no open flames allowed there, obvs.

 
18.
Miss Labrador
Bee
Miss Labrador (message)  1,819 posts, Buzzing bee

@GeorgiaPeach: Whoa! That’s sooo cool!

Btw BC, that dude was whack! Glad you quit doing business with him. Sounds like the kind of looney-toon that would go Buffalo Bill on you!

 
19.
Member Icon
Member
infamia (message)  169 posts, Blushing bee

Oh my what a crazy guy! We decided on these instead of the mason jars (sorry the page is in German :( ): http://www.design-3000.de/schoener+wohnen/wohnaccessoires/kerzen+design3000/eine+tuete+licht.html?listtype=search&searchparam=t%FCte%20licht&scrolltop=0

 
20.
Guest Icon
Guest
bridal expert

I don’t know much about jars but it looks like it’s complicated enough. I’ll just stay with the ordinary lights. I am too afraid of making a fire out of those jars.

 
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Mrs. Bear Cub
Mrs. Bear Cub

Mrs. Cub, Chile/Portland Age and Occupation: 26, Astronomer Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Astronomer Engagement Date: May 10, 2008 Wedding Date: September 2009 Venue: Westwind YWCA camp About Me: I'm a small-town girl who's making a living in Chile, with her heart in the Pacific Northwest. I grew up in Southern California, went to high school in Texas, grad school in New Mexico, and now I can't wait to settle down in Oregon! I love pears, hazelnuts, knitting, traveling, running, baking, and long talks on the phone with good friends. I'm planning my Oregon coast summer camp wedding while abroad with my best friend - I'm always at home when I'm with him!

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