Cost of the 12 Days of Christmas

Cost of the 12 Days of Christmas on the Rise

The Associated Press
Monday, November 27, 2006

The cost of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is on the rise — again.
The total price of all the gifts listed in the Christmas carol went up
3.5 percent this year, according to PNC Financial Services Group in
Pittsburgh.

The good news is that it's much less of a jump than last year, when
prices increased 9.5 percent from 2004.

"After years of stagnation, wages for skilled workers, including the
song's dancers and musicians, have increased as the labor market has
tightened," said Jeff Kleintop, chief investment strategist for PNC
Wealth Management. Buying each item in the song just once will cost you $18,920 — 3.1 percent more than last year.

Trying to find cheaper deals online won't help, either. The 364 items
online would cost $125,767, including shipping costs, compared to
$123,846 last year. You would spend $30,330 online for each item just
once this year.

The nine ladies dancing are the costliest items on the list again,
followed by the seven swans, which cost $4,200.

The cheapest? As always, the partridge, still $15.

"Also, a decline in the housing market has dampened demand for luxury
goods, such as gold rings," he said.

While prices for the partridge, two turtle doves, three French hens,
six geese and seven swans remained the same as last year, higher wages
made the lords a-leaping, ladies dancing and pipers piping costlier.

The nine ladies dancing earned $4,759, 4 percent more, according to
Philadanco, the Philadelphia Dance Co. The lords a-leaping got a 3-
percent pay raise, while the drummers drumming and pipers piping
earned 3.4 percent more.

The maids a-milking, however, weren't as lucky. They make the federal
minimum wage, which has been $5.15 per hour since 1997.

This year, buying all 364 items — from a partridge in a pear tree to a
dozen drummers drumming — repeatedly on each day as the song suggests
would set you back $75,122, up from $72,608 in 2005.