Fun with Percents

You may have heard of the Consumer Price Index, but do you know about the other CPI? The Christmas Price Index is calculated each year by PNC, a Pittsburgh-based bank.

Christmas Price Index

Each year, PNC finds the true cost of Christmas by analyzing the current prices of all the classic gifts from the 12 Days of Christmas song - from a partridge in a pear tree to twelve drummers drumming, all of the actual market prices are there. The fluctuations of the Christmas Price Index and cost of the gifts are good examples of percent increase, which is a Quarter 3 benchmark we have been working on in class.

Example: In 2007, the cost of two turtle doves was $40.00. This year, the cost of two turtle doves is $55.00. What is the percentage changed? Is it an increase or decrease?

Answer: $55.00-$40.00/$40.00 = $15.00/40.00 = .375 x 100 = 37.5%


There was a 37.5% increase in the price of two turtle doves in 2008.

Games
Use your estimation skills to guess which price tag belongs to which gift in this game.
Think you know your economics? Take this quiz.