£54,000: the cost of Christmas true love

Generous partners keeping in line with the traditional carol’s repeat purchases will see their annual payout increase by just under $800 (£488) on 2008 – a rise of around 1 per cent, according to US firm PNC Wealth Management’s annual Christmas Price Index.

Although the rising price of gold has put some strain on the jewellery buying, a weak labour market especially in the entertainments field has frozen the pay of drummers drumming, pipers piping and lords a-leaping at $2,475.20 (£1,509.64), $2,284.80 (£1,393.65) and $4.413.61 (£2,692.24) per team performance respectively.

There was better news for dancing ladies who saw their price tag increase by 15 per cent this year to $5,473.07 (£3,338.49), according to the index.

Meanwhile milkmaids, in the US at least, benefited from a further increase in the federal minimum wage for unskilled workers. The cost of hiring them rose to $58 (£35.37), PNC said.

The cost of the various birds involved fluctuated from last year’s Christmas index.

The pricey seven swans a-swimming would set you back $5,250 (£3,203), down from $5,600 (£3,416) in 2008.

This was accompanied by a dive in the cost of geese a-laying ($150 or £91.50 for six) and partridges in pear trees ($160 or £98 per unit).

Turtle doves and calling birds saw little change in price tag whereas French hens shot up by 50 per cent to $45 (£27) for three in this year’s index.

The cost of buying the list just once will cost true lovers $21,466 this year, up 1.8 per cent from 2008’s total of $21,081 (£12,863).

But due to the repeat purchases, which will see recipients needing room to house 12 partridges and 42 swans, the generous-hearted gifter will have to fork out for a total of 364 gifts, costing 87,403 dollars (£53,339) in all.

The annual index has charted the rising cost of the Twelve Days of Christmas since 1984. This year’s list represents the smallest increase since 2002.

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