Ever wonder how much it would cost to buy each of the gifts from the song The Twelve Days of Christmas? Well it turns out quite a few people have taken a crack at estimating the costs involved.

The best known, is the PNC Christmas Price Index, but unfortunately it only looks at prices in the US.

Fortunately, Metro made their own estimates for prices in the UK last year.

Below we compare both estimates:

UK

Cost Per Set Of Gifts From The 12 days of Christmas In The UK:

The chart above shows, how much Metro estimates each set of gifts would cost in the UK. The cheapest is the first item, A partridge in a pear tree at just £24.50 and the most expensive is Ten lords-a-leaping at £5,000. In total, buying all 12 sets of gifts would set you back £14,272.96.

However, if you bought every set of gifts based on the number of times it appears in the song, you’d end up with the following.

Cumulative Cost of Gifts From The 12 days of Christmas In The UK:

The chart above shows the cumulative costs of gifts based on the number of times they are mentioned in the song (e.g. A partridge in a pear tree is mentioned in every verse, for a total of 12 times). If you were to buy gifts this way you’d have to buy 364 gifts at a total cost of £43,070.80.

The most expensive gift would be 3 sets of Ten lords-a-leaping at £15,000 and the cheapest would remain 12 sets of Partridges in pear trees at just £294.

US

Cost Per Set Of Gifts From The 12 days of Christmas In The US:

This chart follows the exact same logic as the UK chart above, but PNC estimates costs very differently than Metro. The cheapest gift is Eight maids-a-milking at only $58 and the most expensive is Seven swans-a-swimming at $13,125.

In total all 12 gifts would cost $34,558.65.

Cumulative Cost of Gifts From The 12 days of Christmas In The US:

However, if you were to add up all gifts as they appear in the song, the cost would be $157,558.00 with the most expensive being 6 sets of Seven swans-a-swimming at $78,750 and he cheapest would 5 sets of Eight maids-a-milking at only $290.

Summary

Cost Per Set Of Gifts From The 12 days of Christmas: UK: £14,272.96 ($19,064.96), US: £25,872 ($34,558.65)

Cumulative Cost of Gifts From The 12 days of Christmas: UK: £43,070.80 ($57,508.99), US: £118,001.49 ($157,558.00)

You can read more about how Metro and PNC came up with their estimates on their respective websites.

We’ll leave it to you to infer what, if anything, the differences in prices between the cost of gifts in the two countries reveals.

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