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The Christmas Price Index

Wikipedia: 

The Christmas Price Index is a tongue-in-cheek economic indicator, maintained by the U.S. bank PNC Financial Services, which tracks the cost of the items in the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

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PNC compiles both a “Christmas Price Index” and “The True Cost of Christmas.” The “Christmas Price Index” is calculated by adding the cost of the items in the song. The “True Cost of Christmas,” however, is calculated by following the exact instructions in the song (buying a partridge in a pear tree on each of the twelve days, buying two turtle doves from the second day onward, for a total of 22 turtle doves, etc.) for the complete set of 364 items.

The price of each item is set as follows:

  • The pear tree comes from a local Philadelphia nursery
  • The partridge, turtle dove, and French hen prices are determined by the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
  • The price of a canary at Petco is used for the calling [sic] bird, though the price of a blackbird (colly bird) would be more in tune with the song
  • Gordon Jewelers sets the cost of the gold rings, though the gold rings of the song actually refer to ring-necked pheasants
  • The National Aviary in Pittsburgh sets prices for swans and geese
  • The maids are assumed to be unskilled laborers earning the Federal Minimum Wage
  • A Philadelphia dance company provides estimates for the salary of “ladies dancing”
  • The Philadelphia Ballet estimates the salary for the “leaping lords”
  • The going-rate for drummers and pipers is that of a Pennsylvania musicians’ union

Stuff like this makes Jimmy Wales’s squinty eyes worth the hassle.

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    1. onesmallfire said: I forever have the McKenzie Brothers Great White North version in my head.
    2. penllawen posted this

     

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