Want to Buy All 'The 12 Days of Christmas' Gifts in Real Life? It’ll Cost You Over $46K
However, when factoring in repetition, the true cost of all 'The 12 Days of Christmas' gifts in 2023 is even more staggering, per PNC's Christmas Price Index
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Stock image of Christmas decorEver wonder what it would cost to buy all the gifts from “The 12 Days of Christmas” in real life? This year, the price is higher than ever.
It would cost an estimated $46,729.86 to purchase all 78 gifts from the classic English carol, according to PNC Financial Services’ 2023 Christmas Price Index, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. That’s a 2.7% increase from last year’s total of $45,523.27, according to CNN and Forbes.
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However, the true cost of “The 12 Days of Christmas” in 2023 is even more staggering "when you count each repetition of the song," per PNC. When all 364 presents are taken into account, the sum is a whopping $201,972.66. Last year, the true cost was also incredibly high, at $197,071.09, per Forbes.
“Even with its small basket of goods and services, the PNC Christmas Price Index is not immune to the rising costs in the broader U.S. economy,” PNC said.
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Stock image of a Christmas giftThe Christmas Price Index was created in 1984 as “a fun way to measure consumer spending and trends in the economy,” according to PNC. Similar to the U.S. Consumer Price Index, the Christmas Price Index measures the changing prices of goods mentioned in the popular carol.
The first-ever Christmas Price Index suggested the gifts would cost $20,069.58. Since then, the Christmas Price Index has increased 133%, compared to the Consumer Price Index’s 191% increase during the same time span, per PNC.
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Each gift has seen a price increase, though some have seen more dramatic price changes than others. For instance, the price for "10 lords a-leapin’" has risen from $2,903 in 1984 to $11,635 in 2023.
The largest change between 2022 and 2023 was the price of the "two turtle doves," which rose 25% from $600 to $750, according to Forbes. The price of a "pear tree" also saw a significant increase, up 15% from $260 to $299.
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Stock image of European turtle dovesBut the price for the most expensive items, the "seven swans," has remained relatively unchanged. Back in 1984, that item would have set you back $13,120.86 — and it costs $13,125 in 2023. (PNC credits this to “a successful domestic Trumpeter Swan breeding program, which caused the price of swans to plummet by 50% in 1995.)
However, the cost of the "six geese-a-laying" is up 8% from last year’s price of $720 to $780. The price of "11 pipers piping" ($3,207.38) and "12 drummers drumming" ($3,468.02) saw similar price increases, rising 6% apiece from their 2022 totals.
That said, the rising costs between 2022 and 2023 contrasted with the dramatic increase seen between 2021 and 2022, in which the price of "The 12 Days of Christmas" gifts shot up 10.5%, according to CNN and Forbes.
For reference, the average American made $37,638 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census website. The median household income at the time was $69,021.
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Stock image of a group of swans swimming on the lake on a snowy winter morningServices tend to cost much more than goods nowadays, which PNC said is “a flip from 40 years ago, when [the price of] goods were much higher than services.”
“We’re starting to see that inflation level come under control to some degree,” Amanda Agati, chief investment officer at PNC’s asset management group, told CNN.
“But just like in the broader economy," she added, "the Christmas Price Index is not back to the Fed’s long-term target of 2%.”
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