Costly carol: '12 Days of Christmas' gifting sees an overall increase in 2024

The traditional English carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" has long been a favorite during the holiday season, standing the test of time through the centuries and inspiring amusing parodies like Bob Rivers' "Twelve Pains of Christmas."

But the song – which counts up from Christmas to Epiphany on Jan. 6 – has also become the peg for a whimsical way to gauge year-over-year inflation. Pennsylvania-based PNC Bank and other financial institutions have tracked the costs of each set of gifts from "Twelve Drummers Drumming" to a "Partridge in a Pear Tree" to see exactly how much it might cost a man to deliver each to his true love.

PNC’s Christmas Price Index indicated the overall cost of the song’s gifts increased 5.4% since 2023, totaling just under $50,000. 

Meanwhile, the Texas-based business company Swyft Filings noted in 2023 that costs would also vary depending on each state. Taxes, regulations and other factors would be the most likely variables. The company found California, Hawaii and Washington to be the most expensive and Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama to be the least expensive, given that variation.

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Laurie McAdam's color illustration of a partridge in a pear tree. (The Modesto Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Here's a breakdown of the costs counting down from the 12th day.

12 Drummers Drumming

PNC Bank cited wage inflation as the driving factor behind the increase in renting a 12-piece drum corps this year. Their estimated cost was $4,017; an increase of 15.6% over 2023.

Several websites estimated the average cost of a drummer for two hours was between $250 and $500, depending on the set. Taking the median of that rate and multiplying by a dozen drummers places the cost around $4,500, plus gratuity, of course.

11 Pipers Piping

Eleven flutists, or hiring an 11-piece wind ensemble, bear a similar cost-per-head as drummers.

In that regard, PNC Bank estimated the same 15.6% increase as the dozen drummers, with a final cost of $3,715.

10 Lords-a-Leaping

In the British political system, a lord is a title of peerage or nobility dating back to feudal England, and the House of Lords is the current name for the upper chamber of Parliament. 

Placing the phrase in an American context, it remains illegal to physically or proverbially purchase a senator for any purpose including leaping, and public corruption has often been a topic in the media.

However, some estimates have been published on what the cost would be to pay 10 senators or lords to jump.

PNC reported 10 lords-a-leaping would be the most expensive purchase of the 12, with an estimated 2024 cost of $15,579.65 – an increase of 7.2% since 2023.

Nine Ladies Dancing

According to the website GigSalad, the average cost of a dance troupe for a 30-minute performance is between $200 and $400. The freelancing platform UpWork listed dancers for hire ranging from $30 per hour to more than $100 per hour.

The median cost per dancer per hour multiplied by nine comes out to $405 for a half-hour.

In PNC’s tracking, nine ladies dancing in the form of a professional troupe would cost $8,557 for an undisclosed set time, up 3% in the past year.

Eight Maids-a-Milking

Milk prices are back on the upswing in recent months, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In November, the average price-per-gallon of whole milk was $4.14, an increase from a flat $4 that time last year.

The ubiquitous beverage saw a spike during COVID and settled in the two years since, but is on the increase once more. 

Dairy cows (Getty)

Adding milkmaids to the equation, PNC Bank estimated a cost of $58, unchanged from 2023.

Seven Swans-a-Swimming

One Midwest swan farm listed the price-per-bird at $400. In 2020, the city of Lakeland, Florida, was dealing with an overpopulation of about 80 swans on a lake in the community outside Tampa. The going price then was also $400, according to CNN.

Listings on BirdsNow ranged from $400 to $2500, with a pair being markedly more expensive than two individuals. Altogether, PNC estimated the total cost to exceed $13,000, with no increase over 2023.

Six Geese-a-laying

While a South Dakota goose farm listed the price of an 8- to 10-pound goose for consumption at $140 each – calculating to $8,400 for a half-dozen, the cost of live geese that can lay eggs was different.

Prices for live goslings averaged $40 each online, or $240 for six.

PNC’s Christmas index, however, calculated the full cost at $900, or 15% higher than 2023.

Five Gold Rings

On Monday, gold futures hovered around $2,600 per ounce. While PNC estimated the total cost of five gold rings to be $1,245, the actual value may vary depending on the carats, size of ring and other factors.

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Gold rings at a fair in Lower Saxony, Germany. (Getty)

Four Calling Birds

There is some debate over whether the original lyric is really "four colly birds" versus "four calling birds." A colly bird is a blackbird in English vernacular. The term "colly" has its roots in how something looks when blackened by coal dust.

The cost of a live blackbird is between $150 and $225, and PNC estimates four to cost just under $600 – which indicates the lower end of that price spectrum. The bank estimated the cost remained unchanged since 2023.

Three French Hens

The French Bresse hen is considered one of the most sought-after chickens in the world.

Butchers in Paris were selling French hens for €40 per kilo or about $92 per pound. Live poults purchased from farms in the United States ranged from a few dollars up to about $250 as of Monday.

In PNC’s index, the cost of three French hens increased 5% from 2023 to about $347.

Two Turtledoves

In 1992’s "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York," Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister visits "Duncan’s Toy Chest" – a play on Manhattan’s iconic FAO Schwarz department store.

The elderly owner, played by Eddie Bracken, offers Kevin any one of his store’s Christmas tree’s ornaments.

Mr. Duncan tells Kevin he should keep one turtledove and give the second to "a very special person."

"Turtledoves are a symbol of friendship and love," he explains. "As long as you each have a turtledove, you’ll be friends forever."

Kevin ultimately gives the second turtledove to Brenda Fricker’s "Pigeon Lady" at the end of the film after she helps capture the movie's villains, Daniel Stern’s Marv and Joe Pesci’s Harry.

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While that cinematic pair may have been priceless, PNC’s index placed the price of a pair at $750, and European turtledoves themselves are considered a threatened species.

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

The Home Depot listed Bartlett pear trees at about $58 this week. 

Additionally, in an American context, Alaska’s state bird – the Willow Ptarmigan – is a more common type of western partridge. 

"Huns" or Hungarian gray partridges were also introduced in the Lower 48’s northwest in the early 20th century.

Costs of both live ptarmigan and ptarmigan meat were unavailable on Monday, but PNC estimated the combined cost as $160. The bank reported the cost of the bird remained the same, but the pear tree increased in price since 2023.

In its reporting on its own estimations, PNC officials said on the bank’s website that the internet has made the calculation and potential availability of the items in the ancient English carol much more accessible in the 40 years it has calculated their costs.

"Believe it or not, we're still seeing the cause and effect of the pandemic-inflation hangover, even nearly five years later," PNC Asset Management Group chief investment officer Amanda Agati said in a statement.

A Willow Ptarmigan partridge, Alaska's state bird, in Denali National Park. (Getty)

"With years of steep price increases, we'd think inflation has nowhere to go, but we'd be wrong. This latest PNC CPI is an accurate reflection of what we're seeing in the market."

Online purchases of the lyrical items were calculated to be more expensive online than at a brick-and-mortar store due to shipping costs.

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The overall cost of the 12 Days of Christmas increased 133% in the past four decades, with factors such as minimum wage increases particularly affecting the for-hire gifts such as pipers and drummers.

If an enterprising fellow were to purchase his beau the song's 364 total gifts from the 12-day giving spree, it would rise from 2023 by 3.6% to an estimated cost of $209,272.