http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/business/the-27673-youll-need-to-spend-on-the-twelve-days-of-christmas.html 2014-12-24 12:36:02 The $27,673 You’ll Need to Spend on ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ Low inflation, tumbling energy prices and relatively flat wages all combined to keep prices down for the song’s trove of presents. === Only the rarest gift givers are likely to bestow swans-a-swimming or calling birds — let alone leaping lords or milking maids — on their loved ones this holiday season, but modest gifters can take heart in the unchanged price of gold rings. The cost of the five gold rings listed in the verses of the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was the same this year, $750, as in 2013. Over all, the song’s gift extravaganza — starting with a partridge in a pear tree and ending with 12 drummers drumming — rose only 1 percent. Low inflation, tumbling energy prices and relatively flat wages all combined to keep prices down for the song’s trove of presents, according to the Rings are one of the more modern gifts mentioned in the song, which features a bevy of fanciful fowl and entertainers unlikely to be on most current holiday wish lists. Yet French hens and pipers piping are more memorable than the everyday food and services that make up the federal Even so, it would take a deep-pocketed giver to afford the Among the entertainers, only the 10 lords-a-leaping had any increase in wages, 2 percent, from $5,243 last year The eight milking maids, the only unskilled laborers, remained a bargain at $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage, which has been in effect since mid-2009. Though subject to wide price fluctuations, in 2014, the cost of the seven swans stayed flat — also the same price as when the index began in 1984. The six geese-a-laying jumped 71 percent from $210, because Gold rings, which have had a run-up in some recent years, remained the same price, even though the price of gold is down. “It was a surprise that the ring price didn’t fluctuate, but there appears to be enough demand to offset the gold price drop,” said James P. Dunigan, chief investment officer at the PNC unit and overseer of the index. French hens — the Houdan variety — were up 10 percent. The price tag for the partridge in a pear tree rose almost 4 percent this year, reflecting a leap in the bird’s price by a third. (The costs of feed and care are not counted in the index.) A pear tree also cost 2 percent more than last year, driven up by higher costs for fresh fruit and landscaping. The prices for the some of the avian and human gifts were provided by the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania Ballet Company and Philadanco, a Philadelphia dance group. All 364 gifts repeated in the song’s verses will cost the giver And those givers who avoid crowded stores and want to shop online will pay for the privilege. That would total $42,959.07 for all the items, an increase of 8 percent from last year, largely because of the high costs of shipping the large, and sometimes squawky and squirmy, items. Since the index was started three decades ago, by a predecessor bank to PNC, it has mirrored the increases in government-tracked inflation. The PNC index has increased a total of 118 percent compared with the government figure of 127 percent rise for the period. “While there have been exceptions in given years,” Mr. Dunigan said, “since the beginning, year-over-year increases have averaged 2.8 percent, which is exactly the same number as the federal inflation index.” To promote understanding of economic factors like labor costs and inflation, PNC provides aids for classrooms. This year, its Great Carol Comeback website includes a children’s book, an animated short film, a singalong and musical videos.