Alina Selyuk

Almost half the items on NPR's shopping list got more expensive last year, with an average increase of 5%.

The biggest culprits were beef, coffee and chocolate.

Extreme weather, including droughts, have caused shortages.

Some price increases likely had to do with President Trump's tariffs, notably on items imported from China and Vietnam, like plastic measuring spoons, a kid's bicycle helmet, and seafood.

Just under a quarter of the items on NPR's list got cheaper, including eggs, finally, and Cheerios.

In fact, many packaged foods did not change in price after years of increases.

Alina Seluk, NPR News.

I talked to Alfred Mai.

His company, ASM Games, sells card games.

Think like family trivia or date night ideas.

And usually you cannot get him on the phone one week before Christmas.

That's the busiest time of year for him.

And last week he was like, yeah, call me now.

I'm free.

And I had this question, like, did sales exceed his expectations because his expectations were too low or because people spent with abandon?

And he said, it's probably both.

We don't have total numbers.

Those will come in January.

But all signs seem to point to a surprisingly big year.

You know, for how much we've talked about tariffs, with all the delays and changes, they did not disrupt the holiday season as much as feared.