Madame Coco shares her home with five dogs, the bull terriers Nico, Fanny, Claude, Daisy, and Rose.  This little family knows how to throw a party!Madame Coco is the planner, having had lots of experience on rainy days when she was a little girl.

The pups are delighted to make the decorations, sew the costumes, hang and light the space, and plate the refreshments.Everyone behaves nicely, almost as well as if they were meeting for the first time.

Nothing as gross as “simple pimples” (cherry tomatoes stuffed with cream cheese) or “boogers on sticks” (blobs of Cheez Whiz dyed green impaled on pretzels) will be served.  Grilled lamb chops and big fresh bones are better than a chocolate coffin cake with a model skeleton posed inside.Maybe they’ll send you an invitation next year…

The pictures and story are from The Costume Party by Victoria Chess (La Jolla, CA: Kane-Miller, 2005).