28.11.06

cost of christmas

I'm not much of a macroeconomics person, but this chart on my MSN homepage caught my eye this morning. It's the cost of everything mentioned in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas", measured at today's price, and compared to last year's price. You can see the breakdown and read the rest of the article here.

PNC Christmas Price Index
Item 2005 2006 % change

One partridge $15 $15 flat
Pear tree $89.99 $129.99 44.40%
Two turtle doves $40 $40 flat
Three French hens $45 $45 flat
Four calling birds $399.96 $479.96 20.00%
Five gold rings $325 $325 flat
Six geese a-laying $300 $300 flat
Seven swans a-swimming $4,200 $4,200 flat
Eight maids a-milking $41.20 $41.20 flat
Nine ladies dancing $4,576.14 $4,759.19 4.00%
10 lords a-leaping $4,039.08 $4,160.25 3.00%
11 pipers piping $2,053.20 $2,124 3.40%
12 drummers drumming $2,224.30 $2,301 3.40%
Total Christmas Price Index $18,348.87 $18,920 59 3.10%

4 comments:

Anande said...

pretty expensive! where would you even get 10 lords a-leaping anyways?

Sonnjea said...

I wonder why the 12 drummers cost FIFTY times as much as the 8 maids-a-milking? There are 12 instead of 8, but that's not even double. And drumming is more skilled than milking, but the price discrepancy still seems out of proportion.

And -- ladies dancing, sure that's a skill that deserves payment. But Lords a-leaping? Honestly, can't ANYONE leap?

Helen said...

How do you measure the price of maids milking and ladies dancing etc? A good post all the same!

Anande said...

Hey Greta where are you? Please write a new post soon. And please vote for me on word imperfect!