12 Days Of Christmas Now Tops $100k [VIDEO]
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" will cost above $100,000 for the first time this year.
The 364 items repeated across all the song's verses would cost $101,119, an increase of 4.4% over last year, according to the annual Christmas Price Index compiled by PNC Wealth Management (www.pncchristmaspriceindex.com).
Those with the money to spend would end up with:
12 drummers drumming
22 pipers piping
30 lords-a-leaping
36 ladies dancing
40 maids-a-milking
42 swans-a-swimming
42 geese-a-laying
40 gold rings
36 calling birds
30 French hens
22 turtle doves
12 partridges in pear trees
(The price does not include bird maintenance.)
The purchase one set of each verse in the song will cost $24,263 this year — a somewhat moderate 3.5% rise.
Eleven pipers piping will set you back $2,427, but that's a relative bargain compared to seven swans-a-swimming, which cost $6,300. That's a 12.5% rise over last year.
The price of eight maids-a-milking at minimum wage was $58 — the same as in 2009.
Five gold rings declined to $645, from $650 last year.
But last-minute shoppers who turn to the Internet may be in for some surprises. The core list that costs about $24,000 in stores will come to $39,860 online — a whopping 16.1% increase over Internet prices last year.
The high cost of shipping live birds explains some of the difference.
Six items didn't go up in cost this year: French hens, calling birds, gold rings, maids-a-milking, ladies dancing and lords-a-leaping.
Pipers piping and drummers drumming rose 3%. The partridge is still the cheapest item, at $15, and swans the most expensive.
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. checks jewelry stores, dance companies, pet stores and other sources to compile the list. Some of its sources this year include the National Aviary in Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Ballet Company.
Source: PNC Bank/ The Associated Press