Not to be the Grinch, but Christmas is going to be more expensive this year. It’s going to be a tough holiday season in general: interest rates are at 12-year highs, and inflation is also hitting household budgets. Some Christmas goodies will be much more expensive than previous years, but there are also a couple of stocking fillers that aren’t so pricey. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been naughty or nice. Either way, the festive season will cost more. Let’s start with the bad news: that cheese platter is going to be much more expensive than last year, thanks in part to the cost of making it. Sweet treats, including cakes and biscuits, but especially chocolate, have also experienced strong price growth. Rabobank senior analyst Michael Harvey says the increased cost of raw ingredients, packaging, manufacturing and distribution has driven up prices. Spirit and beer drinkers face steeper bottle charges, but wine drinkers get to benefit from China’s trade embargo as pinot noir and chardonnay prices have risen well below the rate of inflation for years. It’s mixed news for a shrimp on the barbie, because while seafood inflation has largely been driven by canned fish products and salmon, holiday demand will help drive up prawn prices, says Australian Bureau of Statistics acting head of prices statistics Leigh Merrington. Summer is peak stone fruit season, and there’s some good news here. Fresh fruit prices have gone slightly backwards, as fruit growers haven’t experienced crop-disrupting natural disasters at a critical point in the season this year. If you’re hosting outside, or planning to keep festivities going through the night, don’t forget to turn on the Christmas lights. But also remember to turn them off before you hit the hay, because power bills have risen by 12.6 per cent through the year to September. But Merrington says without government intervention, that general price increase would have been much greater. The price of stocking fillings is a bit of a mixed Santa sack this year. Inflation for games, toys and hobbies is the highest it’s been since the ABS began tracking it in 1999. Those buying bejewelled gifts will have to budget for higher prices too, as increases in the price of gold help lift inflation for accessories. But if the wishlist is topped by Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld or maybe Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko, happy reading! Book inflation fell in the year to September, and has been low for years. Clothing inflation is similar, and Merrington says lower demand for discretionary items can help keep a damper on price increases. Whether it's to see family, or for a much-needed beach break after the year that’s been, summer and the silly season is also the time to travel. Unfortunately, while inflation for domestic travel and accommodation is lower than it was a year ago, it is still high, and likely to get higher through December as more of us book last-minute tropical getaways If you can’t get there in person, sending a parcel is going to cost more too – in fact, increases in the cost of sending packages have helped drive overall postage inflation. “A lot of online shopping [is] still happening, so that higher demand leads to an increase in prices,” Merrington says, adding that higher fuel prices were helping to drive the increases along with wage growth and strong demand. At least the cost of wrapping those gifts and Christmas cards shouldn’t cost much more than normal. Inflation has been falling from its peak, but price increases have still been stronger than the Reserve Bank – or any of us – would like. The table is set, but unfortunately Christmas lunch and the associated treats are expensive – with a couple of exceptions. So, that means the box of family favourites is going to become dearer still, and holiday tipples pricier. If the latest PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo is on the wishlist, it will cost more than last year. And if you’re sending that in the post, that’s going to set you back even more. For road trippers and campers, fuel prices are lower than last year, but they’ve remained high at 7.9 per cent. For Santa’s roughly 700-kilometre flight between Sydney and Melbourne, that’s a much larger fuel bill than in previous years. Australians love a Christmas light display, but unless they’re solar-powered, those lights will help drive up already growing power bills.