True Loves will pay a record amount to buy all the gifts mentioned in “The 12 Days of Christmas” this season. Scrooges everywhere can blame the rising price of turtle doves, laying geese, and lords-a-leaping.
Including the partridge in the pear tree all the way through the drummers drumming, the price tag is up 2.7%, to $46,729.86. Counting all the gifts repeated through the entire song, the price is up 2.5% to $201,972.66 from last year.
PNC Financial Services Group
has calculated its so-called Christmas Price Index for the past 40 years. There is some welcome news for weary shoppers: The price increase this year is far less than last year’s 10.5% gain.
Officially, the most recent reading of the consumer price index showed inflation rising 3.2% from one year ago.
This year’s Christmas price increase isn’t so much because of the rising cost of fowl, but more the result of rising wages for skilled labor. Wages for performers are up 3.3% in aggregate—but not uniformly for all workers.
Pay increases for entertainers, as reflected in U.S. labor costs, explain why it costs 4% more this year to buy 10 lords-a-leaping, 6.2% more to buy 11 pipers piping, and 6.2% to buy 12 drummers drumming, Amanda Agati, the chief investment officer of PNC’s Asset Management Group, told Barron’s in an email.
On the other hand, there was no increase in the cost of eight maids-a-milking, because PNC calculated it using the federal minimum wage as a proxy, which hasn’t risen in many years, she said.
The nine ladies dancing were given a steep 10% jump in pay in 2022, but it didn’t get any raise at all this year.
Housing was also cited as a factor helping to boost prices. Here’s how PNC broke things down:
- A Partridge in a Pear Tree costs $319.18, or 14% more than last year. While the cost of the partridge was the same as last year, the tree it lives in costs 15% more, “reflecting overall growth in housing costs,” PNC said.
- Two Turtle Doves costs 25% more, with the price rising to $750 for the pair, reflecting “their rarity.”
- Three French Hens inflation ran at 3.5%, due to rising labor and energy costs. The trio cost $330 this year. They are “still among the most affordable birds in the index.”
- Four Calling Birds stayed the same price as last year at $599.96.
- Five Gold Rings still cost $1,245.00. While the price of gold has risen, demand for plain gold bands hasn’t.
- Six Geese-a-Laying, however, are up 8.3% to $780.00. “Inspired by their very expensive swan cousins,” the geese have jumped in price by almost $500 since 2018.
- Seven Swans-a-Swimming stayed flat this year at $13,125—but remain the second most expensive gift in the index.
- Eight Maids-a-Milking also stayed the same, at $58, reflecting that the Federal Minimum Wage for workers remains at $7.25 per hour.
- The Nine Ladies Dancing, who got a salary bump last year for the first time in nearly a decade, saw their cost stay the same this year, at $8,308.12.
- Ten Lords-a-Leaping cost $14,539.20 and are the most expensive gift on the list.
- Eleven Pipers Piping now cost $3,207.38.
- Twelve Drummers Drumming, citing the same labor conditions as the pipers, cost $3,468.02.
Especially generous True Loves intent on buying everything mentioned in the whole song would be shelling out for 364 presents. Wrapping paper isn’t included.
PNC said its Christmas Price Index has mirrored trends in the U.S. economy over the decades. Since 1984 when it was introduced, the PNC CPI is up 133%, while the official U.S. CPI is up 191%.
Write to Janet H. Cho at [email protected]
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