“Please join us at our Spring Tea.”

By cleverly calling it a spring tea, hostess Barbara VanOver of Dutton could combine the customs of both afternoon and high tea.

Barbara’s innate talent for hosting, entertaining and gathering devoted friends has long been enjoyed by her acquaintances. “I love to go to teas,” Barbara said. “When a dear friend died recently, a tea was held in her honor and I thought, what a lovely memorial. It’s a great way to get to know people and it brings people together.”

Barbara has the materials on hand: “I’ve collected tea pots—my father gave me my first one—and I wanted to use them. I had all this china I hadn’t used for some time, one of which was my first set I bought when I was in college.” For her 40 guests, several tea pots for each of the six tables were filled and refilled with a variety of hot teas. These include PG Tips Black England’s #1, Twinings Lady Gray,...