(By Kevin Begos, The Associated Press)
PITTSBURGH,
Pa. - The price of lords-a-leaping and ladies dancing has spiked this
holiday season, but other items mentioned in the carol "The Twelve Days
of Christmas" still cost the same as they did last year.
Buying
one set of the gifts mentioned in each verse costs $27,393 in stores, or
7.7% more than last year, according to the so-called Christmas
Price Index that PNC Wealth Management updates annually. And if you buy
all 364 items repeated throughout the carol, you'll pay $114,651 — 6.9
per cent more than last year.
Last-minute shoppers who turn to the Internet will pay even more for all the gifts — about $173,000.
"We
were surprised to see such a large increase from a year ago, given the
overall benign inflation rate in the US," said Jim Dunigan, managing
executive of investments for PNC.
The federal government's core Consumer Price Index rose only 1.7% this year.
In
the three decades since the list was started in 1984, year-over-year
increases have averaged 2.9%, which is exactly the same number
as broader US inflation. But it's a fickle list because the price of
some items has barely budged, while others have soared.
Seven
swans cost $7,000 this year, the same as in 1984, while the cost of a
single partridge went from $12.57 to $15 during the same period. One
pear tree to put that partridge in? Thirty years ago it cost $19.95, but
will now set you back $184.
The cost of nine ladies dancing is
now $7,553, or 20% more than last year's $6,294, while 10
lords-a-leaping jumped 10%, to $5,243.
Seven items on the
list cost the same as they did last year, including gold rings and
turtle doves, while pipers piping, drummers drumming, and the pear tree
showed only modest changes up or down.
The swans are the most
expensive item at $1,000 each. The eight maids-a-milking still cost a
total of just $58 because the federal minimum wage hasn't risen. At
$7.25 each, they're the least expensive gifts in the song.
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