Some festive, if quirky, expressions of true love hit a record this year.

The verses of the holiday classic “The 12 Days of Christmas” add up to 364 gifts, and if your true love bought them all, they would cost $107,300, a 6.1 percent increase compared with last year’s total. That is also more than double the giver’s bill of nearly $52,000 in 1995, the lowest annual total for the old-fashioned gifts and services.

The cost of the 12 days of cumulative gifts is calculated annually by PNC Wealth Management, part of the PNC Financial Services Group, to come up with an amusing and easily understandable explanation of how the country’s economy is faring.

Instead of sticking to the pedestrian items like food, gasoline and electricity that make up the federal Consumer Price Index, PNC tracks the cost of the carol’s more whimsical list, which ranges from a partridge to a group of leaping lords, to explain how prices affect the economy.

This year, the prices of the six geese, seven swans and other fowl rose because the country’s drought drove up the price of bird feed.

The five golden rings named in the song’s verses also cost significantly more than a year ago. Higher demand for gold stems from an improving economy, said James P. Dunigan, PNC Wealth Management’s managing executive of investments, who oversees compilation of the index.

“The rise is larger than expected considering the modest economic growth we’ve had,” he said. This year, buying just one of each gift enumerated in the song would cost $25,431, a 4.8 percent increase over last year.

After nearly three decades of tracking prices, PNC found that its final tabulation often mirrored the Consumer Price Index, which includes a much broader range of goods. It was up 1.87 percent for the 12 months that ended in November. The gap between the two indexes is caused in part by the price of feed but also to lower energy prices.

The six-figure outlay to accumulate all the gifts is unlikely to faze those with deep pockets, but there is still room for a holiday bargain with the milking maids, ladies dancing and leaping lords as well as with the calling birds, turtle doves and partridge. The eight maids, who are considered unskilled labor, cost $58, still a deal because the minimum wage remained at $7.25 an hour.

Musicians like the 11 pipers and the 12 drummers were a bit more expensive, at $2,562 and $2,775. Each group received a 5.5 percent raise over last year, based on information from music groups and unions. The nine ladies dancing received no raise, remaining at $6,294.

Pushing up the final bill, however, were the geese, which soared by 29.6 percent, to $210 each, up from $162, as corn and other bird feed costs jumped. The seven trumpeter swans could be found for $7,000, up 11.1 percent.

Also up 11.8 percent was the cost of a pear tree, which rose $20, to $189.99, an increase that Mr. Dunigan said reflected a better housing market. In the song, the pear tree is a perch for the partridge, but in contemporary life, it is a tree often used in residential landscaping.

The gold rings this year rose by 16.3 percent, to $750 from $645 last year. The three French hens totaled $165, an increase of 10 percent from last year’s $150.

The partridge is the cheapest item, at $15, and the swans, at $1,000 each, are the most expensive. The availability and price of swans greatly fluctuates every year, and each annual PNC list factors in the final gift total both with and without the swans.

Online shoppers will find assembling the parade of fowl and performers easier and more convenient, but shipping costs make the final bill much higher. The cost to give one set of items rises to $40,440 when buying is done online.

To draw up the list, Mr. Dunigan said, PNC consulted sources like the National Aviary in Pittsburgh for bird prices, and organizations like the Pennsylvania Ballet Company in Philadelphia for the going rates paid to performers.

To arrive at the price of the 14-carat gold rings, PNC checked with a national jewelry retailer. Gold prices dipped last year after purchasers balked at higher prices for wedding rings and other fine gold jewelry, and they are fluctuating this year.

To help students understand prices and how they affect the economy, PNC comes up with a new Web site each year to illustrate the index items. PNC worked with the advertising and digital agency Deutsch Inc. on the site, pncchristmaspriceindex.com, which challenges players to find the holiday carol’s gifts scattered around the globe.

The site, which uses Google Street View, lets users check far-flung places for the goods and services on the PNC index and to learn about them — or browse historical information. The cost of two turtle doves in 1987, anyone?

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/business/cost-of-12-days-of-christmas-totals-107300.html?partner=rss&emc=rss