You might have the theme of “songs for the weekend” in mind, but don’t just add a bunch of songs that have “weekend” in the title. A theme is about continuity of the songs’ tone and content, not just titles that have words in common.
It is also good to read the lyrics while you listen to make sure you don’t miss anything. You want to make sure there’s not a stray lyric or something you usually don’t notice when listening that someone else could pick up on. Examine lyric books or liner notes included in CDs you own, or visit one of the many lyrics websites available online.
Think of a DJ at a wedding reception or other party, and mimic their routines by trying to form patterns and keep a wide variety. You might use a pattern of fast, medium, slow, or loud, average, soft. But don’t repeat the exact pattern for the whole CD. Break the pattern partway through.
This is much more of an art than a science, so it will not be perfect. You just want the mix to feel like it was put together in a specific way on purpose, not a bunch of songs that are on shuffle.
If some of the songs you want to include on the CD are not already in your music library, you may need to add those songs. You can either import them from CDs you have or download them from iTunes.
