A Hamil-ton of Gifts for Your A. Ham Fan

How does a geek mom, hunting, last-minute shopping and wrapping,
Dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot on the gift list that she wrote herself, exhausted, in spit-up, find the perfect set of presents?

The ten-dollar easy answer with free shipping —
Get a lot farther not by shopping a lot harder
By shopping a lot smarter . . .

If you’ve got a Hamilton fan in the house, I’ve got you covered (and not with my weak rhymes). Take this opportunity to turn that little musical fan into a history buff. Or just support their budding hip-hop careers. These gift suggestions will help you out, no matter what kind of Hamifan you have.

Books for teens and adults

• Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. This is the New York Times bestseller than Lin-Manuel Miranda picked up vacation, inspiring the whole show.
• Hamilton: The Revolution is the book of the musical. It’s amazing. If you buy only one thing on this list, I’d pick this one. It’s the full script (lyrics), with photos from the story and piles of backstory on what went into its creation.
• Hamilton: The Adult Coloring Book.

Books for middle grades

• The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr is a middle-grades-targeted book that covers the same frenemies story of our beloved musical.
• Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider is the life story of the man before the duel that, until LMM helped us all out, was all anybody knew about him.
• 499 Facts About Hip-Hop Hamilton and the Rest of the Founding Fathers

Books for elementary-aged kids

• Duel! Burr and Hamilton’s Deadly War of Words focuses — as the name implies — on the duel with beautiful watercolor-and-gouache art.
• Aaron and Alexander: The Most Famous Duel in American History is another illustrated version, but better for a younger elementary audience.
• Alexander Hamilton: From Orphan to Founding Father is a level 3 in the Step Into Reading books.

Music

• The actual album is an obvious place to start.
• The Hamilton Mixtape, just released December 2, is 23 tracks of your favorite songs recreated (and sometimes changed quite a bit) by the likes of stars from Kelly Clarkson to The Roots to Usher and many more. (There’s also a clean edit.)
• In The Heights (an earlier Miranda musical)
• Advanced mode: Gift a collection of albums whose songs or artists are referenced or that inspired lines in Hamilton. Read Slate’s guide to the references to make your list.

T-shirts

Your choices in this area are great. Here are a few:

• It’s a Hamilton thing
• Squad Goals
• Hamilton Laurens Lafayette Mulligan – Teamwork
• H. Mulligan, Merchant Tailor
• And Peggy
• And Peggy (with drawing)
• Schuyler sisters/Powerpuff Girls mashup
• Schuyler sisters heart
• Awesome! Wow! (King George)
• He Knows Where France Is

Beyond A. Ham

Maybe Hamilton isn’t your favorite character in the show. Even LMM said he was torn between playing Hamilton and Burr. To branch out:

• Lafayette and the American Revolution (grades 5-8)
• Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette (grades 3-5)
• Lafayette (biography)
• George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution
• Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation and Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation
• The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr

Other things

• Still like a wall calendar? Here’s the ten-dollar calendar of a founding father.
• Hamilton – Easy Piano (piano arrangements of selected songs)
• Lyrics poster
• Burr shot first mug
• Lyrics bracelets

Get shopping–Do not throw away your shot.