Nov 29, 2005 11:00 am US/Eastern
Cost Of '12 Days of Christmas' Gifts Now $72K
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) ―
Buying your true love all the gifts in the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" will cost you more this year and you can blame bird flu and high energy prices for that.
The cost of the gifts went up 9.5 percent this year, according to PNC Financial Services Group.
Last year's increase was a mere 1.5 percent from 2003.
"Not only are avian flu fears and fuel costs driving prices higher, but gold prices are also on the rise," said Jeff Kleintop,
chief investment strategist for PNC Advisors.
You'll have to shell out $325 for the five gold rings this year.
And with the threat of avian flu, good luck getting three French hens from France.
Though you could find local suppliers.
Each year, the Pittsburgh-based bank does a tongue-in-cheek tally of how much the lords a-leaping, pipers piping and maids a-milking would cost if you bought them for your true love at today's prices.
The list began in 1982 in a newsletter for institutional clients and the bank started telling everyone else the next year.
This year, the price tag for all 364 items, from a partridge in a pear tree to a dozen drummers drumming - if they were bought repeatedly on each day as the song suggests: $72,608, up from $66,334 last year.
For that price you could get a platinum 6.9 karat yellow diamond ring, well-equipped Porsche Cayman S sports car, nicely equipped BMW coupe, Porsche sport utility vehicle or fully-loaded 2005 Jaguar convertible.
Buying each item in the song just once would set you back $18,348, up from $17,296 last year.
If you think you can find a better deal online, forget it.
The 364 items would cost a whopping $123,846, or $29,322 for each item just once.
The nine ladies dancing again cost the most - $4,576, followed by the seven swans at $4,200 and 10 leaping lords at $4,039.
Also, geese cost almost twice as much and the price of swans went up by 20 percent this year, according to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
That's because large birds come from national retailers whose shipping costs have risen due to high fuel prices.
Turtledoves and calling birds, however, weren't hit by high energy prices because these smaller birds can be bought from local retailers.
As for the partridge? That's still $15.
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