'Twelve Days of Christmas' costs $24K

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The price of all the gifts from "The Twelve Days of Christmas," increased by 3.5 percent this year, Pittsburgh bank PNC tallied Monday.

The bank said its annual analysis of the prices for the gifts from the classic Christmas tune amounts to $24,263.18 this year, up $823.80, for a hypothetical lover who fulfills every verse of the song.

"As the economy continues to struggle, we are seeing weakness in some areas of demand within the index," said James Dunigan, managing executive of investments for PNC Wealth Management. "That is illustrated in the costs of the Five Gold Rings. While gold commodity prices are at or near record highs, the demand for retail gold is waning, and thus our Five Gold Rings actually dropped by 0.8 percent this year."

The most economical gift remains the partridge in the pear tree at $15, up 14.2 percent, while the costliest, the seven swans-a-swimming, will set one back $6,300, an increase of 12.5 percent.