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WE’VE ALL BEEN stuck for a gift idea for a loved one in the past.

However, it is doubtful anyone has ever properly considered following the 12 Days of Christmas song for guidance.

If you did, however, you would be looking at a bill in excess of €20,000.

At least according to US bank PNC. The bank is out with its annual Christmas Price Index (CPI), which prices all of the gifts from the classic tune “The 12 Days of Christmas” compared with Yuletides past.

And, even though the prices are in dollars, here’s how much the song would cost:

All told, the gifts from the song total $27,393.17, $1,192 more than last year and 116% higher than 1984, when the bank launched the index.

Although the “true cost of Christmas” — the total cost of the items when you repeat all of the song’s verses — is $114,651.18.

“While there are exceptions in given years, what’s most interesting about the index’s history is that since the beginning, year-over-year increases have averaged 2.9 per cent, which is exactly the same number as the U.S. inflation index,” PNC Wealth Management’s Jim Dunigan said.

(Can’t read the chart? Click here.)

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