“A Pear Tree! Darling, Wasn't That Expensive?”

The gifts listed in "The Twelve Days of Christmas " keep getting pricier, according to this news item:

Each year, PNC Wealth Management, based in Pittsburgh, tabulates how much it costs to acquire the gifts listed in the song, using a Christmas Price Index that typically mirrors the federal inflation-tracking Consumer Price Index.

This year — no surprise — the song’s gift list is more expensive than ever, mostly because the leaping lords, piping pipers, drumming drummers and dancing ladies ran up the bill.

It was the first time in nine years that the rise in labor costs outstripped inflation, said Jeffrey N. Kleintop, PNC’s chief investment strategist, who oversees the index.

“After years of stagnation, wages for skilled workers, including the song’s dancers and musicians, have increased as the labor market has tightened,” Mr. Kleintop said.

The 12 gifts would cost a total of $18,920.59, up 3.1 percent from last year. That is less than the 6.1 percent rise chalked up last year over 2004, though, when the threat of avian flu kicked fowl prices up.

Marketing note: PNC Wealth Management gets a good bit of free brand exposure from this annual survey of Christmas prices. Sometimes a little whimsey pays off in ink, airtime and pixels.