PNC says ’12 Days of Christmas’ items will cost $49,263

For the past 40 years, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, Pa., has calculated the cost of the 12 gifts from the classic holiday song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Developed on a lark in 1984, PNC’s annual Christmas Price Index has become a whimsical holiday tradition.

 

So, if one were so inclined to purchase all the “gifts” mentioned in the lyrics for one’s true love – ranging from a partridge in a pear tree to 12 drummers drumming – the price tag in 2024 is a hefty $49,263.

According to the PNC bankers, this represents a price hike of 5.4% over Christmas 2023, when the total bill was about $46,730.

“It’s fun to look back at the index over the years and see what has changed and how closely that has mirrored consumer behavior and the economy,” said Rebekah McCahan, PNC senior investment and portfolio strategist. “Clearly, we’ve seen a shift over time to an index that is more heavily tilted to the entertainment sector.”

The PNC index noted that the individual groups of 12 drummers and 11 pipers are each commanding fees that are 15.8% higher than a year ago, so the tab for a performance by the drummers is nearly $4,017, while the pipers are charging about $3,715.

 

Additionally, the 10 leaping lords upped their fees to roughly $15,580, a bump up of 7.2%. More modest is the 3.0% increase to a company of nine dancing ladies who will perform for $8,557.

The middle of the song always eats up a big chunk of money, with the cost to attain six geese a-laying ($900) and seven swans a-swimming ($13,125.)

A mother swan glides along with three of her cygnets aboard.

Maintaining seven swans is not the best idea, however. Chris Fritzen, owner of Grand Swan Farm in La Porte, Ind., told Mother Earth News that males pair up with females and mate for life. As a breeder, he always sells swans in pairs.

“A lone swan is a lonely swan,” he tells prospective customers.

“Their natural food in the wild is ‘subaquatic vegetation.’ In simple terms, that means the ‘weeds’ that grow in the pond,” Fritzen said. “The average mute or trumpeter swan ranges in weight from 20 to 40 pounds; it will eat five to eight pounds a day to get enough protein to sustain life.”

Most ponds don’t have enough subaquatic vegetation, however, so Fritzen recommends that swan owners add supplements year-round to make sure the swans are “kept happy, and they stay where they’re supposed to.”

PNC fails to mention that a pair of swans will eat between $300 and $400 a year in dietary supplements. Fritzen said there is also an additional cost to install an aerating system – “something that goes to the bottom of your pond and basically blows air out and it brings warm water up from the bottom of the pond to the top so that it doesn’t freeze.”

PNC is America’s seventh largest financial institution with assets of $559.7 billion and branches in 27 states. You would think some branch manager in a farming community would raise the question about the eight milkmaids in the “The 12 Days of Christmas.”

The PNC index ties the milkmaids’ compensation of $58 to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, which hasn’t changed since 2009.

 

In actuality, because dairy maids have a unique skills set, their competitive wage rate should be about $42 per hour, according to human resources experts. Then, there’s the matter of purchasing or leasing the dairy cows as well as their care and feeding.