12 Costs of Christmas

Loosely Based On The Twelve Days of Christmas

One Partridge in a Pear Tree - $104.99

Partridge - $15.00
Pear Tree - $89.99

Two Turtle Doves - $50.00

Three French Hens - $15.00

Four Calling Birds - $280.00

Five Golden Rings! - $250.00

Six Geese a Laying - $150.00

Seven Swans a Swimming - $3,500.00

Eight Maids a Milking - $41.20

Nine Ladies Dancing - $3,932.72

Ten Lords a Leaping - $3,433.99

Eleven Pipers Piping - $1,179.36

Twelve Drummers Drumming - $1,277.64
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In an odd twist on historical patterns, women's wages rising more than men's contributed to a 6.53 percent rise in the one-time cost of the gifts in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," which totaled $14,214.90 this year, according to the PNC Bank 1998 Christmas Price Index.

At the end of 12 days, carolers have crooned about the 364 presents in the song -- including 12 partridges in a pear tree, 36 calling birds, 40 maids-a-milking, 22 pipers piping and so on -- for the grand total of the song's "true cost of Christmas" of $58,405.09 this [unstated] year.

 

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