True love gets more expensive: Inflation drives spike in prices of ’12 Days of Christmas’ gifts
U.S. inflation is taking a toll on “The Twelve Days of Christmas” too.
This year, it will cost $45,523.27 to buy all of the gifts described in the beloved holiday ditty, PNC Bank reported in its annual “Christmas Price Index”.
The price tag is up 10.5% from last year and is the third largest increase since the bank started tracking the prices in 1984.
On the first day of Christmas, it will set shoppers back $280.18 to buy a partridge in a pear tree for their true love — a 25.8% increase from last year.
“While the price of a partridge is unchanged, continued growth in the cost of its tree, due in part to higher fertilizer costs, means an overall price increase for the first gift in the 2022 index,” PNC Bank said.
The bank blamed sharply rising commodity prices for driving up the cost of five golden rings on the fifth day of Christmas more than any other gift on the list. It will now cost $1,245 to buy those rings, an increase of 39.1% from last year.
Rising feed costs have jacked up the average price of a pair of turtledoves by $33.3% to $600.
The same issue will raise the price of three French hens to $318.75 this year, a 25% increase.
The only two years with more significant increases in the overall cost of gifts in the index were 2003 (18.4%) and 2008 (11%).
