HamilPUNS Family Halloween Costumes & Hamilton Musical Parody Videos
We were “not throwing away our shot” at riffing off of Hamilton the Musical for our 9th Annual Lanker Family Punny Halloween Costumes this year. Brace yourself for a Hamil-TON of puns and four parody music videos!
The Pun-spiration
Never before have I lost so much sleep over a creative project.
The past few months, there have been countless nights where I’ll lie awake in my bed for hours because I’ve been so utterly excited to share our 9th Annual Punny Halloween costumes with you all.
This year, our costumes are…
…Hamilton-themed! Inspired by the ground-breaking Broadway musical by creative genius Lin Manuel Miranda.
Mark and I have been obsessed with Hamilton since we first bought our double-disc CD set back in 2015. Mark sang “Dear Theodosia” to Juniper when she was an infant.
Then, we got to be in “The Room Where it Happens” on Broadway in November of 2017 thanks to my folks!
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And this September, when two of my gal pals, Doris & Magda, answered my plea on Insta-stories for punny costume theme ideas with “Hamilton, of course”… fireworks went off inside my head. Because not only do we love Hamilton, but now the whole world loves Hamilton because of Disney+.
So, we put our own animal twist on Lin’s masterpiece for our 9th annual punny Halloween costumes this year. And we had a HamilTON of fun with it!
This is always the most pun-derful time of the year for us Lankers.
And whether you’re a die-hard Hamilfan or this is your first introduction to the amazing tunes and characters from the Broadway musical about “the $10 founding father,” we hope we can bring some love, light, and laughter your way during what has been a truly tough year.
A little laughter can go a long way, I’ve found.
So, let’s party like it’s 1776 and dive into some Hamil-PUNS, shall we?
“There’s a million puns we haven’t made. But just you wait. Just you wait.”
Parody Music Videos
“What time is it? Showtime, showtime!”
With source material as inspiring as Hamilton, we couldn’t just keep it to just our typical family photo shoot this year.
We had to create 4 parody music videos!
Especially when my friend Keely Hardaway got pun-spired late one night on Marco Polo and wrote some EPIC parody lyrics for us. She’s a poet, rapper, and Hamilfan rolled into one creative genius of a friend and helped us take our HamilPUNS to the next level this year.
“Aaron Purr, Sir”
So without any further ado, allow me to introduce you to the first two members of our Hamil-PUNS family as they get introduced to each other:
Yes, that really is Mark singing! Even though he much prefers to stay behind-the-scenes, when he saw how excited I was about creating some parody videos, he jumped into his role with such gusto. And I’m forever grateful.
Links share this video with your pun-loving friends on… Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube.
“The Schuyler Sisters”
We’re compelled “to include women in the sequel…WORK!”
Time to meet the rest of the Hamil-FAM: The Schuyler Sisters as played by Juniper, Lauren (moi), and Pepper.
Links share this video with your pun-loving friends on… Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube.
Thanks to my friend T.J. Rogers for his purrrrfect performance of the voice of Aaron Purr. And to the lovely Shauna Kidwell & Darling Heldt for their assistance in puppeteering, photography, videography, child-wrangling…all of the things. We truly could not have made these videos without them!
“Obsessed”: “Helpless” Parody
And now, I’m just tickled to present to you our parody of one of the most beautiful songs from the greatest musical of this generation: “Helpless” from Hamilton.
Our version is aptly called, “Obsessed.”
Because I think our nearly decade long streak of Halloween costumes dedicated to visual humor means we are officially OBSESSED with dad jokes. Amiright?
Puns… it’s how eye roll! {Sorry, not sorry.}
Links share this video with your pun-loving friends on… Facebook | Instagram | TikTok Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 | YouTube.
Isn’t Camelton’s rap uh-ma-zing?! It’s my favorite part from all of our parody videos. Fo’ sho’.
And I was truly in my happy place, singing and dancing and being silly alongside my favorites in these vidoes. My musical theatre lovin’ heart is so full, y’all. So full.
Owliza Makeup Transformation
Before our second night of shooting footage, I decided to set up my phone to film a timelapse video so you OWL could see the transformation from Lauren Lanker to Owliza Schuyler!
The whole routine took about an hour–but you get to see it happen in under 30 seconds. So satisfying, right?
Fun fact: the “Helpless” parody lyrics I sing in this video were from Keely’s first draft before she came up with the lyrics in the “Obsessed” version.
The “Huntress” lyrics were too FLY not to share, and I thought this was the PUN-fect opportunity to go back into the recording studio (A.K.A. our closet) and HOOT!
A thousand thanks to Erica Davidson for coming up with the step-by-step makeup tutorial I followed. I lament that I never got to take a Stage Makeup class in college, but Erica made this look super do-able, and I loved how she incorporated actual feathers into it!
*I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience and also compiled all of the makeup I used and our costumes in handy collection on my Amazon storefront, which you can peruse HERE.
Last but not least, I need to shout-out my former student now talented singer-songwriter in Nashville, John Tucker. He did audio mixing for all of our tracks to help level us out and make us sound way more professional than we actually are. Thank you for working your mixing magic, John!
Meet the Hamil-FAM!
Now, allow me to share a little about each character and their costume while incorporating as many HamilPUNS as I can.
Aaron Purr
“Hiss less. Purr more….” –Aaron Purr, Sir
The punny play on Aaron Burr’s name is what first convinced me I needed to take on the HamilPUNS theme for our 9th annual Punny Halloween Costumes this year.
And who better to take on this role than our fifth family member, Mangey-cat! It was high time she participate in our punny Halloween costume tradition. Somehow she got out of it the last 8 years. So we roped her in.
And by “her” I mean her understudy, “Mangey the puppet.” Because if you’ve ever tried to put actual clothes on a cat… well, you’ll understand.
And really, the only person who got roped into anything was me. {Tee hee.} Because while I managed to purchase most of our costumes on Amazon this year, the Aaron Purr costume was my big D.I.Y.
I shared some behind-the-scenes videos in my HamilPUNS Insta-stories highlight so you can see what the process looked like for someone who refused to bust out her sewing machine and put this cat puppet costume together entirely with fabric and a glue gun.
Also, I’m not sure this costume is ever coming off of our Mangey-cat puppet, but that’s a-okay with me because I love how our Aaron Purr turned out.
The ruffles. The velvet trim on his coat. The little buttons. The black boots. The black felt collar.
He’s just un-BURR-lievably cute. PAWSitively PURRfect. And full of CATtitude!
And now I know some of you must be thinking, “Are you KITTEN me right MEOW with all these puns, Lauren? These are CLAWful.”
And to that, I say, “FUR real.”
{Wink.}
Alexander Camelton
Okay, let’s chat about Alexander Camelton, shall we? And the creative genius behind this pun: she happens to be a three-year-old named Raina. My friend Keely’s oldest daughter.
When listening to one of the songs, little Raina thought Hamilton said his named was “Alexander Camelton,” and even requested later on to listen to “Camelton music.” Her parents thought it was so funny, the name just stuck!
When Keely half-jokingly threw that idea into the pot when I was brainstorming for HamilPUNS, we realized it would be in keeping with the animal theme we had going with Aaron Purr. Purrfect!
And what sealed the deal was searching on Amazon for camel costumes and discovering the wonder you see Mark wearing in these photos.
I crack up every time I see the little legs. I get such a camel-kick out of it!
And after the many sweltering photo shoots we’ve had in the past with our annual punny Halloween costumes #FloridaLife, Mark was due for a costume with a built-in fan.
{Cue track 39 on the Hamilton soundtrack: “Blow Us All Away….”}
Angelicat Schuyler
“My name is Angelicat Schuyler….”
Casting Juniper in the role of Anglicat was a no brainer for three reasons:
1. Her favorite animal: cat
2. Her favorite color: pink
3. I knew she’d have fun pretending to be my older sister!
The first time I showed her “The Schuyler Sisters” video from the original Broadway production, her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. And we’ve been playing the song on repeat ever since–rehearsing the sisters’ dance moves, memorizing the words, twirling like it’s our job.
“Work!”
I wish you all could hear her little voice when she raps, “You want a revolution? I want a revelation!” It’s a heart-melter.
Real Talk: As happy as Juniper looks in these photos, she did NOT love her itchy dress or too-tight headband.
But I told her, it ain’t easy being PURRfect. Annnnd I promised her ice cream after each of our three nights of filming. It’s amazing the MEOW-gical effect that had on her! {Grin.}
Owliza Schuyler
Of course, with Mark as Alexander Camelton, I had to be his Owliza!
Not to mention, of the three Schuyler Sister animals (Angelicat, Piggy, and Owliza), an owl is the oldest and wisest. So, as the Schuyler Sister who most recently discovered her first gray hair, that sealed the deal for me claiming this punny role.
Although I purchased a few different owl masks, I ultimately decided to use makeup to complete my owl transformation, which you can watch unfold in our fourth parody video shared above and HERE.
I do love any costume where I get to wear a hoop skirt. And twirl. And the dress matches my mint YETI cup so yay for color coordinating. You can find all of my costume pieces and Owliza makeup elements on Amazon HERE.
Know that I’m OWL-ways here to fill your October with as many puns as possible and give you a HOOT!
Piggy Schuyler
“…and Piggy! The Schuyler Sisters!”
Pepper nailed her Piggy audition:
1. She answers to Peppy, which sounds a lot like Piggy.
2. She has lots of experience as a cute tag-along little sis!
3. I don’t think Juniper or I could’ve pulled of the pig look quite as well as our piglet Peppy does! She has the whole 17-month-old cuteness factor goin’ for her.
Speaking of “the pig look…”, I had to get a little bit creative with Piggy’s costume.
I had a dickens of a time finding a yellow colonial style dress in size 18 months. However, a lacy bell-sleeved onesie underneath a yellow party dress did the trick!
And how does one get piggy ears on a child who refuses to wear headbands?
You deconstruct the piggy ear headband, of course, and attach the ears to bobby pins that you secretly slide into your little one’s pigtails while she’s distracted eating dinner.
Ninja-mom tricks for the win! Or rather…OWLiza bein’ wise.
Pig puns are BOARing, so I struggled to come up with a creative ending to this blurb.
But the O.P. (Original Punster), my dear dad, came through with this little diddy:
“I can’t believe you got Pepper to ham up her part just like you wanted! She steals the bacon without hogging the whole stage.”
Now you see where my pun-obsession comes from!
The Schuyler Sisters
“We’re lookin’ for some (punny) minds at work!”
I can’t even tell you how much PUN we three gals had getting all dressed up in our flouncy dresses…
…and animal accessories…
…pretending to be sisters…
…and dancing in the driveway.
Next time you’re OWL by yourself, remember HOO can always hang out with the Schuyler Sisters PIG’cause we think you’re PAW-some.
Hamil-Fam Photo Shoot
Here are a few more captures from our HamilPUNS photo shoot.
Mark’s Alexander Camelton costume was so fun this year, Juniper and I each had to try it on. Those little legs looks hilarious on people of all sizes it turns out.
I’m truly contemplating wearing feather eyebrows on the regular now because…of course.
“Night vision eyes, there’s no wiser costume. Got my feathers on, and I’m ready for a ballroom!”
Fun fact: to get Pepper to master her “work!” pose, we’d say, “How big is Peppy?” And she’d throw an arm up for “so big!”
But her favorite pose of all was this one: the “please pick me up” pose.
And I have to share these photos of Pepper’s first camel ride…or should I say, Piggy’s!
“They see me strollin’….”
I’ll truly treasure these photos and videos as a time capsule of this season in 2020 both strange and sweet. Angelicat and Piggy won’t be 4 and 1.5 forever!
It makes me smile to think about that day when they’ll be old enough to actually watch Hamilton and can look back on these photos from Halloween 2020. I imagine they’ll shake their heads, saying, “Mom, you were crazy for dressing us up like that.”
And I’ll know deep down they really mean “crazy” as in “crazy awesome.”
To Close
We can’t say it enough: thank you, Lin Manuel Miranda, for the rich lyrics and rhythms that have been stuck in our heads this past month.
Thank you to the original cast (Leslie Odom Jr., Renee Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, Jasmine Jones, and company) for your powerful performances that my daughters, husband, and I delight to emulate in our kitchen, living room, and driveway… anywhere the sound of our speakers can reach.
And to my Thinking Closet community, thanks for always joining in on the pun each October…especially this year! You’ve sent so much love our way through kind comments, messages, and shares. Y’all are OWL-some.
May your love of Dad-jokes always “be satisfied.”
Hungry for More Puns?
Won’t you join us for a walk down Punny Lane with our post featuring our costumes from all 9 years of Lanker Family Punny Halloween History?!
If you’re eager to check out more punny ideas that involve your precious littles, I have 20 more for you to peruse:
And the pun doesn’t stop there! Here are the other collections of clever and punny costumes I’ve gathered over the years. So many of these ideas are great for last minute and can often be pulled together using items you already have lying around the house. Dig in!
Stay in the Loop
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The HamilPUN crew and I wish you a pun-derful Halloween!
*Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase after clicking through, The Thinking Closet may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for helping to support this site!
I adore you guys! I’m so glad you’re still doing the punny costumes. I think this is the 7th one I’ve been with you for. Always brightens my season! Thank you Lauren and Family for all the fun! Peace and light <3 Well done, Juniper and Pepper!
This year’s costumes are phenomenal! I get a big smile when I see your post in my mail box. Here’s a funny Hamilton story for you…..
My daughter and family love Hamilton as much as you. My 4 grandkids can sing every song and dance every dance. The youngest (3.5 years old) goes to a Christian preschool. She was rocking it on the first day because she got to go to school like her older siblings. On the second day of school, she had music class and she was pumped. When my daughter picked her up, she said she wasn’t going back and started to cry. After she calmed down, the reason she was sad was because they didn’t sing Hamilton songs in music class. I still chuckle when I think about this🙃
Enjoy your day! God bless you!