12 Days of Christmas to cost true loves 3.1 pct more

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - If your true love wants to lavish you with gifts for the 12 days of Christmas this year it's going to cost them nearly $20,000 -- a 3.1 percent increase from a year ago.

The 23rd Annual PNC Christmas Price Index showed that rising wages for milkmaids, the higher gold price, and rising food prices would push the cost of funding the holiday song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" up to $19,507 this year.

"Each year, the Christmas Price Index reflects trends in the broader economy," said James Dunigan, managing executive of investments for PNC Wealth Management, which produces a humorous economic analysis based on the song each year.

"This year, increased commodities prices, concerns about the value of the dollar and the first minimum wage increase in 10 years were major factors in the increases to the Christmas Price Index."

He said the rise in gift prices mirrored the U.S. government's Consumer Price Index, a widely used measure of inflation, which is up 3.5 percent so far this year.

An increase in the price of gold, which is now trading at around $836 an ounce, will make it more expensive to buy five gold rings on the fifth day of Christmas. Five gold rings are estimated at $395, up 21.5 percent from 2006.

"The cost of the gold rings in this year's Christmas Price Index reflects the general trend of increasing commodity prices in the Consumer Price Index, including gold," said Dunigan.

"In addition, increased fears about inflation and the value of the dollar may have led investors to turn to gold as a safer place to invest their money."

The maids-a-milking on the eighth day of Christmas, the only unskilled laborers in the index, got a wage rise this year with the U.S. Congress increasing the minimum wage. This will takes their costs up by 13.6 percent.