Christmas Price Index

The Christmas Price Index chose the items in the popular Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as its market basket: a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five golden rings, six geese, seven swans, eight maids, nine dancing ladies, ten leaping lords, eleven pipers, and twelve drummers.

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 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 "True Cost of Christmas," which accounts for all 364 items, reached an all-time high of $209,272, a 3.6% increase from the previous year.

Like other lighthearted economic indicators, such as The Economist's Big Mac Index which tracks the price of the Big Mac hamburger in different countries, the Christmas Price Index nevertheless produces results which have meaningful interpretations.

The graph illustrates the evolving "True Cost of Christmas" from 1984 to 2024, showcasing fluctuations and long-term growth. Starting at around $60,000 in 1984, the cost steadily climbed to just under $100,000 by the mid-1990s. A sharp decline occurred in 1995, bringing the cost down to approximately $50,000. However, the trend rebounded strongly, with consistent growth evident through the 2000s, surpassing $85,000 by 2009. Afterward, the costs exhibited significant increases, reaching peaks near $170,000 in 2018, followed by a notable dip in 2020 due to pandemic-related disruptions. From 2021 onwards, a strong recovery took place, with the 2024 total hitting a record high of $209,272. The trendline in the graph confirms the overall upward trajectory, driven by inflation, labor costs, and market dynamics over four decades.
True cost of Christmas, 1984–2024
Number of gifts of each type and number received each day and their relationship to figurate numbers