Leaving cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer now costs over $8, study finds
Cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. (Getty Images)
Before children around the world get ready for a good night’s sleep on Christmas Eve, they’ll leave out cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. And this year, it is costing more to do so.
An analysis by FinanceBuzz looked at government data and grocery prices, and found it now costs $8.44 to leave out the treats, a 31% increase from five years ago when it only cost $6.42. The increase outpaced the national inflation rate of 25%.
Dig deeper:
Ingredient price increases have driven up cost of Santa’s cookies
The increase can be attributed to the prices of eggs, which have jumped 136% since 2020, according to the FinanceBuzz study.
FinanceBuzz says other ingredients have also increased over the last five years, with sugar and butter both rising 35%, salt 73% and flour 25%, matching inflation. The study found the only ingredient with a slow rise in cost is milk, which is up 17% since 2020.
Carrots have increased more than 40% since 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, many food staples remain 25% to 35% above their 2020 prices.
The Source: Information in this article was sourced from StudyFind and FinanceBuzz. This story was reported from Orlando.