The Cost of The 12 Days of Christmas.

 The 12 days of Christmas is one of the more popular songs heard at this time of the year and every year at least one media outlet announces the current cost of obtaining all the items.

The overall cost of the 12 items have increased over the past few years.  In 2016, the cost ran $34,363.49 which went up to $34,558.65 in 2017, and in 2018, they were $38,926.03.  This year, the cost will run just a bit more.


The break down this year is as follows:

1 partridge in a pear tree is 210.17 down 4.5 percent.

2 turtle doves is $300.00 down 20 percent.

3 french hens is still running $181.50 which has not changed in price since last year.

4 calling birds didn't change price since last year and is still $599.96.

5 golden rings will set you back $825.00 which is a 10 percent increase.

6 geese-a-laying is $420.00 up 7.7 percent from the previous year.

7 swans-a-swimming is one of the most expensive items at $13,125 which didn't increase at all.

8 maids a milking didn't change and still costs only $58.00

9 ladies dancing didn't change from $7,552.84.

10 lords-a-leaping still runs $10,000, the same as the previous year.

11 pipers pipping $2748.87, up must 8/10th of a percent from last year.

12. drummers drumming will set you back only $2972.25, up just 0.8 percent.

The total is $38,993.59 for all of these items but if you gave the number sang in the song with all the repeats, it would cost you $170,298.03 or $781.94 more than the previous year.  The numbers quoted are for obtaining all the items locally.  If you had to order them online, it would cost you $42.258.91.

It wouldn't take much to turn this information into a graphing excursive.  The data from 2018 and 2019 can be found here for both local and online purchases. Students can translate the information into a graph using a spreadsheet and then produce various graphs from the program. This page has the total cost for all the gifts beginning in 1984.

The same graph for the total cost also allows people to look at the change in the price of each individual items.  The price of a partridge in the pear tree ran $32.52 in 1984 and is now $210 in 2019.  This graph makes it possible for students to calculate the percent increase or decrease each year in order to create graphs showing the information.  I think it would be interesting to see how the cost of each item changes over time.

I hope you explore the second site, it is cool.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.