PITTSBURGH–The 38th annual Christmas Price Index—which calculates the cost of the items in the song The 12 Days of Christmas—has returned for 2021, reflecting changes brought on by the COVID pandemic and inflation.
The Christmas Price Index from PNC had a bah-humbug year in 2020 when it was affected by the cancellation of many of the in-person performances featured in the song, making it difficult to calculate the total cost.
But it’s back in 2021, with PNC reporting its calculation reveals an increase of 5.7% in the CPI from 2019 to purchase gifts from the classic holiday song for a total cost of $41,205.58.
The annual PNC CPI tradition also includes calculating the "True Cost of Christmas," which is the total cost of items bestowed by a True Love who repeats all the song's verses. Purchasing all 364 gifts will cost $179,454.
"With most live, in-person performances cancelled in 2020, we removed them from the Index last year, which resulted in an unprecedented 59% drop in the PNC CPI from 2019," said Amanda Agati, chief investment officer for PNC Asset Management Group. "Comparing 2019 data is a better gauge of the impacts of inflation, before the pandemic's effects took hold of the global economy. We are trying to normalize the comparison by excluding a-once-in-a-century pandemic that had an outsized impact on last year's data."
True Love Isn’t Cheap
Among the highlights of this year’s Christmas Price Index:
- Welcoming back performers: “It is encouraging that live performances have mostly returned in 2021, albeit in a modified form in most instances,” PNC said. “But it doesn't come cheaply, as True Love is on the hook for a number of ‘IOU's’ this year and will have to shell out a hefty sum: $24,939.94, a 7.2% aggregate increase over 2019 for the Ladies Dancing, Lords-a-Leaping, Pipers Piping and Drummers Drumming.”
- Fowl friends flying high: The largest price increases this year come in the exotic pet categories, with large spikes seen in Six Geese-a-Laying (57%), Two Turtles Doves (50%) and Three French Hens (40%), PNC reported, adding that inflation is fueling higher costs for raising the birds through higher food and labor prices.
- Gold rings showing luster: “With the economic recovery still quite uneven, and concerns about inflation continuing to ebb and flow, investors dashed for store-of-value assets like gold again this year. Gold rings are up 8.5% from 2019, reflecting the trend in gold commodity prices,” PNC reported.
"In 2021, the inflation story due to COVID-19 as told by the BLS' Consumer Price Index has surprised to the upside, running at 6.2%, well above the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target. While we expect higher inflation trends to be transitory, it is interesting that our specialty gift basket of goods and services is relatively in line with these elevated price levels," Agati said.
The Role of Tech
PNC added that delivery companies are expected to continue to play an integral role during this year's holiday shopping season, which is reflected in the additional travel and shipping costs factored into the PNC CPI internet prices. A tech-savvy True Love will spend an additional $4,394 by fulfilling their shopping list online, paying a total of $45,599 for the ease of e-commerce convenience.
Free shipping for livestock purchases is still not an option, PNC noted.
Additional detail on the cost of the 12 gifts can be found on this website.