Another year, nearly over. And what a year it has been, bringing the end (mostly) of pandemic restrictions, an unnecessary war against Ukraine and its people, shocks to food and chip (electronic) supply chains, way up and then a bit down inflation followed by the Fed’s persistent increases in the prime lending rate, political dog fights culminating in the mid-term elections and last, but not least, the beauty of IU basketball (11-0) after Sunday’s 87-24 win against Morehead State.

Santa Claus has not been immune from the effects of these events (oh, you didn’t know Santa loves women’s NCAA basketball? Big fan!). His workshop, the heart of his global ecosystem, has been hit by supply chain shortages and the increasing costs of materials.

The elves and ancillary workers demanded higher wages or they’d leave for the more lucrative tech sector or, better still, create a company and license their image for the production and sale of Elfin NFTs (limited editions, considering they only have the one costume). Of course, workers and reindeer need to eat.

There must be energy to power the sleigh’s lights and Rudolph’s nose so bright. The tracking devices have to be powered too, or else the dozens of Santa Tracker’s seeking Santa’s coordinates would have nothing to show, not even on Twitter. Mrs. Santa and her team have struggled to stretch the food budget for everyone at the Christmas Campus/Arctic workers and residents and became particularly adept at buying protein that wasn’t meat or fowl or fish.

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Throughout this economic ecosystem we call The Holidays, higher costs of pretty much everything have eaten Santa’s budget and ours. The Santa Gift Giving and Holiday Cheer Ecosystem, which one night a year must traverse the globe, prides itself on sourcing local materials.

Feeding his eight reindeer the night of is critical. Being herbivores, they will want plenty of fresh veggies (their favorite we understand is reindeer lichen, not known to be found on any local farms around Bloomington). Local produce found at our local markets (i.e., Bloomingfoods) costs anywhere from $2 (celery) to $6 (organic lettuces) a pound. And they can supplement by grazing on our grassy fields (reindeer are good at foraging through snow) or nibble in the forests, since we understand the bark of younger trees is a treat.

And let us not forget that we ourselves, among the tens of thousands of households in the Bloomington area, may choose to bake cookies ($22.25) for Santa and provide that must-have glass of milk ($2.99 a gallon) to go with them. The favorite in my house has always been chocolate chip cookies, made with Nestle Toll House chips ($2.99/12 oz), Gold Medal flour ($3.99/5 lb.), extra large eggs ($5.79/doz.), vanilla extract ($5.99/2 oz.), Domino sugar ($4.49/4 lb.), and chopped walnuts ($4.99/ 8 oz.).

Last year those ingredients cost less – about $2.23 less if we factor in 10% inflation (which we probably shouldn’t since many of these ingredients were on sale or were loss-leaders). These were each priced and purchased at the Kroger at Clear Creek Crossing, buying the same brands we used when I was a child rather than the way I shop nowadays, which is based on “what’s cheapest.”

I could have store hopped to get even lower prices, what with gasoline down to $3.40 on average today, but I had other mass consumer responsibilities to tend to as part of The Holidays economy!

Carol O. Rogers is director of the Indiana Business Research Center in the Kelley School of Business.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Column: Even baking cookies for Santa costs more this year