The Price Of Twelve Days Of Christmas Gifts Take Huge Jump

An annual tally of items in the beloved 12 Days of Christmas song by PNC Financial Services Group comes to $96,824 this year, up a whopping 11% from 2009. It’s the second-highest jump in cost in the 27 years PNC has done the tally and the largest percentage increase since 2003. The price accounts for the 364 items chronicled in the song. Non-purists who ignore the repetition in the song would shell out only $23,439, up 9% from a year ago. Blame commodity prices in part on the increase - the cost of Five Golden Rings is up 30%. Nine Ladies Dancing saw the biggest dollar increase from 2009 at $820, up 15%. However, the cost of Three French Hens has more than tripled over last year, at $150. Only four items — Pear Tree, Calling Birds, Geese-a-Laying and Maids-a-Milking — were the same price as in 2009. The cost of purchasing all the Twelve Days of Christmas items online is higher than traditional brick-and-mortar stores, with a total of $34,336. The 2010 PNC Christmas Price Index: