Easy Valentine’s Day Traditions To Start With Your Family This Year [Episode 22]

[00:00:00] Heidi: Hey there, friends! Welcome back to the Holiday Head Start Podcast. Today we are sharing a roundup of Valentine ideas. Some of these are traditions that we love, and some of them are just fun ideas that we have gleaned from other people.

 

[00:00:14] Emily: Traditions are one of those things that we can collect without really meaning to.

 

There are so many fun ideas. It can be hard to know where to draw the line.

 

[00:00:23] Heidi: And we just want to remind everyone that this is a pressure free zone. There are lots of benefits that come with traditions, but that doesn’t mean that you need a tradition for every holiday and you definitely don’t need to adopt every tradition that sounds fun.

 

If

 

[00:00:40] Emily: you are also an accidental tradition collector, like we can be, go back to your holiday purpose statement that we talked about all the way back in episode four,

 

even though it’s not currently Christmas, your holiday purpose statement can still help you filter out what’s worth your time versus what sounds fun, but maybe isn’t practical for this particular season of life.

 

[00:01:02] Heidi: You can also lean on your holiday profile to help decide what to embrace and what to let go of. Chances are that what matters to you about your Christmas celebrations also applies to your non Christmas celebrations. So look for ways to infuse those same touch points into your plans.

 

[00:01:18] Emily: If you don’t know what we’re talking about, make sure to check out our holiday profile quiz at quiz.

 

theholidayheadstart. com. This ranks how important each of the six holiday touch points are to you. And if you rank really high on abundance or tradition for Christmas, That can help you recognize that adding surprises or old family recipes to your celebrations can help make them more meaningful to you year round.

 

[00:01:43] Heidi: Our discussion today might give you ideas of something new to start or help you see how you can adapt something that you’re already doing so that it works better for you and your loved ones. So Emily, why don’t you kick us off with one of your favorite Valentine traditions?

 

[00:01:58] Emily: Well, I’m going to start with one that I only started maybe three years ago, four years ago, which is secret Cupid.

 

It’s so cute. I love this. And I heard about this idea on the three and 30 podcast. I love her. And this is something that she got from her sister. So we’re just passing it through the sisters. Basically, the idea is that you have your kids assigned to be secret cupids to each other in February.

 

Now this Is tricky if you have only three kids, like I do, because it is never a secret because you know who you have. So then you can deduce who has you, but I told my kids, the secret part is the secret things you’re doing for your secret cupid, not. Who it is So on the three and thirty podcast her sister talked about how she set up a Cupid store And her kids could come shopping at the store for what they wanted to gift to their Person throughout the week and I did it that way for at least the first two valentine’s days that we did it but the problem became that the kids would see what else was in the store and then have Expectations of what their Cupid was going to pick for them.

 

So it’s really not The right vibe of what we’re trying to go for with Secret Cupid, which is to do nice things for a sibling and think more about your sibling than yourself. Yeah, that’s really,

 

[00:03:35] Heidi: that’s really a tricky line to walk.

 

[00:03:37] Emily: Right. And I really don’t want to take each of my kids shopping individually because, uh, we’re busy.

 

There’s not a lot of free time, especially during the school year. It was a good idea. It just didn’t pan out well for my kids. This year I am either going to just put out a selection they can pick from that’s curated for each kid and then they won’t be seeing anything that was that’s curated for them and they’ll know like these are just options that I think this sibling would like.

 

So which ones do you want to pick for your days? And we usually do it for a week where each day they put a little surprise on their person’s bed. But I also encourage them to do something nice for their cupid. Like do one of their chores or something. But that does not always happen.

 

They’re a lot less interested in the service part of this than the gift part, if I’m being honest. We’re still working on it. All that to say, I think I’m curated set of gifts to pick from. Or we might just do some online shopping where, but you see, as soon as I said that, I was like, um, do I really want to do that though?

 

Because that opens up so many possibilities. I think maybe, maybe it’d be more instead of online shopping, like let’s just go browse target online. I think maybe it’d be, do you have any ideas of something you would want to order? Because you know, Pokemon cards and things like that. So. Yeah, I’m still thinking about exactly how it’s gonna go.

 

So next year I can let you know what we did and if it works, but all that to say, I really like doing traditions that focus on my kids relationship with each other as siblings. And so I really like that. This isn’t about mom doing something. Sweet and surprise for each kid every day, even though, of course, I’m the one doing the most work for this tradition, but I do love helping them foster these relationships with each other and do nice things for each other and also.

 

I have them pick out something special to give to their cupid on Valentine’s Day. And so that’s always something that’s a little bit nicer of a gift that we order in advance. And I think in the past I have always paid for this now that my kids are older and they all get allowance. I might encourage them this year to.

 

Pick something that they want to pay for because I do think that makes it a little more meaningful if they spend their own money. Those kids are loaded. My kids are loaded, man. They get allowance and they hardly spend it. So it’s just racking up in those accounts. Anyway, that was a long rambling explanation.

 

Hopefully it made some kind of sense, but that is my favorite. Valentine’s Day tradition.

 

Heidi, what’s a Valentine tradition

 

[00:06:22] Heidi: that you love? Okay. Well, this is cheating a tiny bit, but. Your conversation about secret Cupid made me think of this. So at church, I work with the eight and nine year old girls and we have an activity coming up and I was trying to think of something fun, but meaningful related to Valentine’s Day.

 

And I remembered that growing up, we briefly had this service star. So it was like a wooden star wand kind of with a fancy bow on it. Cause you know, it was the nineties. And, the idea was that. If you got like the star on your bed, that meant somebody in the family had done a service for you. And now you had 24 hours to do the service for someone else and move the star to their bed.

 

And I think it didn’t last very long because who needs one more thing to do at Christmas, even though I do like the idea of, you know, making Christmas sibling family service a priority, but it just was too much. So I don’t know what made me think of that, but I was thinking like, Oh, this could be fun.

 

The girls could make heart. Wooden heart wands, and do the same thing for the 14 days in February from, you know, the 1st to the 14th. So technically, I guess this isn’t a tradition because we haven’t done it yet, but this is what I’m planning to do with the girls. We have an activity coming up next week.

 

So they can paint their wands. I need to write some kind of little poem that explains what to do and get some ribbon and they can tie them together. And having been on the kids side of this. It’s going to work with them to brainstorm some ideas that they can do as service. Yes.

 

So it doesn’t,

 

[00:08:01] Emily: well, I can’t think of anything to do or they’re bugging their mom. What should I do instead of like actually

 

taking the initiative themselves?

 

Yes,

 

[00:08:08] Heidi: absolutely. Trying to make the, give them some ownership so it has some meaning and then they can present it to their families. So hopefully that will be.

 

Something a tradition that these families can enjoy that will help, you know, bring a little more of the Valentine spirit.

 

[00:08:22] Emily: Okay, I think I want to steal this. I’ll have to figure out if Secret Cupid is only gift delivery then and this service, what did you say you’re calling it? I think

 

[00:08:32] Heidi: I’m still workshopping the name right now. I’m leaning towards The service, sweetheart, your service, sweetheart, secret admirer.

 

I like

 

[00:08:42] Heidi: them both.

 

I did covert Cupid, but then you have this other Cupid. So that seemed

 

[00:08:47] Emily: to, I know. And I don’t like secret cupids confusing. Cause it’s like. Is the person you’re doing it for your secret Cupid or you secret Cupid for them? We kind of use it interchangeably. It kind of makes no sense, but now that we’ve used it for multiple years, we can’t rename it.

 

That’s just what it is.

 

[00:09:02] Heidi: I did have the idea. I wish I’d thought of this. Cause I found some unfinished heart wands really cheap online. Which was great. But then I thought, Oh, I wish I’d gotten like lady bugs instead. We could, they could have made them love bugs. You’ve been bit by the love bug and now you have to, you know, pass on the surface, but maybe that’s a bad thing to be bitten by the love bug.

 

I don’t know, but I did buy some extra ones. So if you want one, or if you want to have Eloise can paint ones with us, I

 

[00:09:29] Emily: do. And I do. Yes. So we’re going to adopt that this year. And I also like that it. Since it will pass around, they’re not having to come up with something to do every day, which ideally they would, but I know from experience that coming up with something nice to do every day did not always happen.

 

So this way it’s more passing around. It’s more of a surprise and you really don’t know who did it for you. It’s not related to your cupid. And it can

 

[00:09:54] Heidi: work with the parents in a little easier. So it’s a whole family thing.

 

[00:09:57] Emily: Yes. Cause we talked about adding me into the secret cupid. So it was a little more like.

 

Mysterious who it was, but then we just decided like, I didn’t really want one of the kids to have me cause I wanted them to be focusing on their siblings and it just didn’t really make sense. But with the service totally could include me. So yeah, we’re,

 

[00:10:18] Heidi: we’re

 

[00:10:18] Emily: doing

 

[00:10:18] Heidi: it. All right, we’re in. Let’s do it.

 

[00:10:21] Emily: Emily, give us another Valentine tradition.

 

Well, one I’ve been doing, I don’t even know how long, is that I do a little heart attack for my kids on Valentine’s Day. So I used to do it on their bedroom doors.

 

Now I do it on the outside of their lockers. We have built in cupboards in our mudroom and they each have a cupboard in the mudroom that is their locker. And so I put the hearts up on their locker and I just write something on the heart that I like about them or that, you know, I love about them or that’s special about them.

 

And I used to cut the hearts out of construction paper. Last year or the year before I got smart and started buying either foam hearts from like craft supplies, or the last couple of years I’ve used like doily paper hearts that I ordered, my kids really love this tradition.

 

They appreciate the words of affirmation. You know, there’s just something about your parents calling out something that they love about you or that’s special about you that just warms your heart. And I know that they really love this. So it’s a fun tradition and pretty easy to accomplish each year.

 

Well, it’s

 

[00:11:32] Heidi: nice that you kind of have that. And time where, you know, Christmas is so late in the month, but Valentine’s day is right in the middle. So

 

[00:11:39] Emily: if you

 

[00:11:39] Heidi: want to do something for a week or even two weeks, it doesn’t become an overwhelming task.

 

[00:11:44] Emily: Oh, for sure. And I did think about doing it where I added a heart every day, but I have just done it where on Valentine’s day, I just put it all up on their door.

 

But I have seen that done where it’s like, you know, 14 things I love about you. And they add a heart every day. Which would be super cute. I think the key there is you got to be on the ball. And I think maybe a lot of times in February, I’m not on the ball. February 1st, you

 

[00:12:07] Heidi: would have to have them all prewritten.

 

If you’re going to make that a success. Yep.

 

And we grew up having a monthly family newsletter. Where we could see, and you know, I know we all did this as soon as the newsletter came. The first thing we checked was our own family’s, uh, what is our column in the newsletter to see what mom had written about 100%.

 

And it was such an important source of self confidence and the way I saw myself. And so I think that these notes do the same thing, like that affirmation of what others should. Recognizing you the good traits and qualities. So I think that’s such a like having been a kid with something similar. I know the power something that simple has.

 

[00:12:53] Emily: Yeah. And I think as a parent, it’s easy to not always be calling out. The things you want to notice about your child and make sure that they know that you notice about them. It’s good to have an intentional time of year to do that. This is such an easy way for me to just show them a little extra love.

 

And it’s like, it’s a tradition that doesn’t really cost any money. So that’s nice. That is very nice. What’s next on your favorite Valentine’s

 

[00:13:19] Heidi: traditions, Heidi? Okay, well, I’m stealing this one. This isn’t something I’ve done, but it’s from our friend, Melissa, who has the blog So Festive. And she does something similar to the notes, but they have what she calls the family love jar.

 

And I’m just going to read what she wrote. She said, one of our very favorite Valentine traditions for families is what we call the love jar. At the beginning of February, we pull out our love jar. It’s nothing fancy. In fact, any glass jar container will do, or those cute mini mailboxes, that would be darling, right?

 

Anyway, she said, we leave pens and notepaper next to the jar on the mantle or counter where we will see it often. The goal is to fill up the love jar with love notes. We have no specific rhyme or reason to it, but the idea is to write things we love about each other and fill up the jar. On Valentine’s day, we sort them out and read them as a family.

 

That’s so cute. I love that idea. It’s just a low key way to really, you know, focus on loving each other. And again, you know, something that the kids could do for each other and include the parents as well. That’s adorable. I love that idea. Yeah. Melissa has lots of fun ideas. Definitely check out. So festive.

 

If you want lots of festive ideas. Yes. Okay.

 

[00:14:27] Emily: Emily, you got another idea for us? Well, I have carried on. One tradition from when we were kids, which is to have pizza on Valentine’s Day, which is a really easy tradition. And these days you can get a heart shaped pizza from multiple different pizza places. So that makes it really easy.

 

Doing the same thing for your meal every year is such an easy way to add a tradition to a day. It doesn’t really matter what you’re eating. It’s the fact that you have the same thing every year.

 

[00:15:03] Heidi: And I did see an idea online and I wish I’d written down who said it. But instead of a heart shaped pizza, she used like a heart cookie cutter and cut out hearts out of tortillas and then just made like tiny little So, Tortilla pizzas with, you know, cheese and then she did use a little, cookie cutter to cut out heart shaped pepperoni on top.

 

So, uh, that’s adorable. Yeah, then you don’t even have to deal with the

 

[00:15:25] Emily: dough. Yeah, and then I usually try to do like a red and white, red or white or pink drink with it, you know, like an Izzy soda. Oh, yeah, or cherry 7 up or something like that.

 

And, you know, red side dishes like strawberries or red peppers or whatever. Really, really easy dinner tradition. And then I also, I mean, this could probably be its own separate tradition, but I do give my kids a gift on Valentine’s day from me. It is. Small, it’s not like a birthday gift level.

 

It’s something on the small side, but that was something my mom did for us when we were kids too, on Valentine’s day. And it’s just, I like having an excuse to get them a little something because I’m in general, not the mom that’s like. Oh, you want that thing. Okay.

 

I save it for the gift giving occasion. So it’s nice to have an excuse to get them a little,

 

[00:16:14] Heidi: a little surprise from mom. Yeah. Mom used to have like, they were like Valentine’s day takeout boxes.

 

And so they would be by our plate. Each Valentine’s dinner, but we couldn’t see what was in them because it’s all folded up in the box. So there was like candy and a little surprise in there. That was always so fun.

 

So last year on the winter solstice, we did chocolate fondue. Because we did like cheese fondue for dinner. We’ve done chocolate fondue. After, it was just, it was too much. So we decided to move chocolate fondue to Valentine’s Day. Yes. Because that seems like a really valentine y tradition. And then I think something happened and we didn’t even get to it last year. Yeah, I can’t remember what the deal was, but there was some

 

[00:16:56] Emily: reason that we just didn’t even do

 

[00:16:58] Heidi: it. If, I think maybe like by the time dinner was really late for some reason because something

 

[00:17:02] Emily: happened.

 

Oh, one of my kids probably out of practice or something.

 

[00:17:05] Heidi: Yes, that sounds about right. And then by the time we were getting the fondue out, it was like eight or something. We’re like, no, no, we call it. I’m a beggar. Yes. Hopefully this year. I guess. Oh yeah.

 

I hadn’t even thought about it. I should probably, I should probably look at like. What we need to make that happen.

 

[00:17:24] Emily: Yes.

 

[00:17:24] Heidi: That was not even on my radar.

 

[00:17:26] Emily: See, well, it’s a good thing we’re talking about this. Well, and I actually do have one more fun thing I’m doing this year. So some years in the past, I have put out like a little snack charcuterie board After school, that’s just like whatever cute treats I could find at the store, you know, heart shaped cookies, whatever, always fun snacky things.

 

But this year, Target had these really cute boxes they’re small, like maybe like the size of half of a sheet of paper, like not too big. And you can lift open the lid and then inside there’s little trays that are in the shape of letters.

 

So one of them’s like XOXO, one says love, and I can’t remember what the third one says. I got three different ones. So you can put the snacks into the letters and around the outside of the letters to make a cute little. Candy or treat box. So they’re each going to get their own little snacky snack box.

 

[00:18:23] Heidi: Oh, that’s darling.

 

[00:18:24] Emily: I haven’t done it before, but I did already buy a bunch of cute Valentine’s candy from Target. Like in January, I did. Oh, nice. I know I was like way early on this order, though. They’re probably already hard to find. But if you know someone with a 3D printer, I had the thought after I bought it.

 

But oh, yeah, totally 3D print those letter. Trays that go in. Yeah, that’s perfect. Yeah, and then it doesn’t even necessarily have to be valentine’s themed treats either even though I bought a bunch I mean it could be pretzels Marshmallows like anything it does it really doesn’t matter. So again another one I haven’t done yet, but I think it’ll be a hit and it’ll be pretty easy to accomplish

 

[00:19:06] Heidi: Well, our Valentine’s day is going to kick this year.

 

Kick that doesn’t sound like a good thing. No, it doesn’t. We’re going to crash Valentine’s day this year. Here we

 

[00:19:16] Emily: go. I know we’re like, again, always adding, collecting more traditions as we go. That’s just how we roll.

 

[00:19:24] Heidi: And I bought, cause, Emily’s son loves those wafer cookies. I do, I do this for back to school where you dip it, those little rectangular wafer cookies.

 

That maybe your grandma had an old fashioned cookie and you like cut it into a point and dip it so it looks like a little pretzel for back to pretzel. So it looks like a pencil for back to school. But I did buy, I saw pink ones, so I thought maybe I could get some valentine sprinkles. I gotta get valentine sprinkles, and make Neil some valentine ones.

 

[00:19:56] Emily: He’ll love it. They’re, they are a yummy little treat. They’re very tasty. My kids are so spoiled, huh?

 

[00:20:05] Heidi: But we would love to hear about all of your Valentine traditions, the old ones and the ones you’re going to try out this year. So please connect with us on Instagram at the holiday headstart.

 

[00:20:15] Emily: Now it’s time for a get a headstart tip. Each week we leave you with a small actionable tip to help you get a headstart on your holiday planning.

 

This week’s get a headstart tip is make playlists. Tell us more about this, Heidi.

 

[00:20:28] Heidi: Well, a good playlist is one of my favorite simple ways to elevate a gathering. We know that the more senses you can incorporate into an activity, the richer the experience is. And the nice thing about a playlist is that they are super easy to work on in advance.

 

And they don’t make any clutter. You don’t need any resources. Just, you know, your phone and Spotify or another streamer. I just made a playlist for our reindeer games night. For December, and I worked on it a little at a time during the year, kind of in fits and starts, but you don’t have to make your own playlist.

 

If that’s not something you enjoy. I just happen to really like it for. I don’t know why I keep trying to like psychoanalyze. What is it about playlist that I. Enjoy so much, but, it is your secret talent. I have like, you’re very kind, but I haven’t, I haven’t delved deep enough in my psyche to unravel that one.

 

But if you have a streaming service, there are tons, tons of made for you playlists already available. All you have to do is search for something that kind of fits the vibe of your activity. And I will try to link my Christmas playlist in the show notes. I’m pretty sure. I’m pretty sure I can do that. So if you are looking for some very specific holiday playlist, like I said, the reindeer games playlist has a very specific rockabilly, 60s surfer rock girl group vibe.

 

Like Emily says, I work on it like a lot. Cause it’s important to me that the songs kind of flow together. So you don’t get that. Jolt between like the way one song ends and one song starts. Yeah. I don’t know that it matters, but I put a lot of time into it.

 

So right now I have a Thanksgiving playlist and a bunch of the Christmas ones. And I make all the Christmas ones start with Noel so that they’re all grouped together in my list of playlists. I can find them easily. Yes. Anyway, the first year you hear a playlist with your tradition, your activity, it’s just kind of nice background music.

 

But what happens is that next year when you hear that playlist, you have all of the memories from the year before that are tied to those songs. And then as you use the playlist over time, those connections just grow and it becomes more of part of the feeling of the experience. So think about your playlist.

 

It’s just now you. There’s so much you can do with them. There’s so many options. It’s really just a fun, low key way to have some fun with holiday planning and you can do it so far in advance. It’s great.

 

[00:22:58] Emily: So if you’re looking for a simple way to get ahead on some holiday prep, start on a playlist or two, pick a vibe for Valentine’s day and put something together, or you can start working on some farther out like Easter or the 4th of July.

 

Now it’s time for what we’re working on this week as a way to keep ourselves accountable and give you some ideas of what you can do in advance for your own celebrations. We’re sharing what we’re working on this week. Heidi.

 

What’s on your to do list? I

 

[00:23:26] Heidi: actually don’t have anything holiday planning on my to do list. Humblebrag. That is because I crushed it on my holiday yesterday. I’ve never been this good. And the difference was I had a list in advance. of what I wanted to do. I made the list right after Christmas of like, what are all these different things I could do in advance, like each holiday, what do I want to do? So that helped a lot. I. Took a few minutes to like reflect on where I am in this planning process. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that every month because right now we’re still right after Christmas.

 

So it was easy to have a lot to reflect on. I don’t know that I’ll be able to say much in July, but I guess we’ll see. We’re all on this journey, but I did. I, updated my address list and my Christmas card list. I made a batch of cookie dough. Now this may be totally gross by, Christmas, but I’m taking that gamble.

 

[00:24:20] Emily: So we’ll see. Fingers crossed. I feel like with frozen cookie dough, you shouldn’t put it won’t

 

[00:24:24] Heidi: be bad. It can’t go bad in the freezer. The only thing would be if the texture’s off because it’s been in the freezer too long. Well, it’s an experiment this year. You’ll learn how early you

 

[00:24:34] Emily: can make them.

 

[00:24:36] Heidi: Yes, but it would just be so nice to be able to not have to have the pressure of doing it all in October, November or whatever.

 

So we’ll see. This is an experiment. What else did I do? I filled out action plans for two traditions, one that I hadn’t done yet and then I just tweaked one. I made grocery lists for each one so I could start figuring out my list of non perishables that I can stock up on. I ordered some supplies. I got, some tablecloth.

 

Hangers? No, they’re not hangers. So one of the ways I noticed that I hit a roadblock when I’m trying to set up for a holiday event, like, you know, the Grinch dinner or, you know, the family’s coming over for something. I want to be able to set the table early, but the hangup is I can’t always lay my hands on the tablecloth right away.

 

The tablecloths have become this weird hurdle. So I have a closet where I keep most of my holiday stuff, And it’s got like the rack that you would normally put clothes on.

 

It’s just kind of empty space. I thought I could put tablecloths on there. So I bought an organizer and put my tablecloths in there so I can set the tables quickly. And I had the thought to check and see if the post office still had holiday stamps. And they do. So I bought those as well. So I feel like

 

[00:25:54] Emily: I crushed it.

 

Yeah, you did. I want to be more excited for you, but mostly I’m just like bitter that I did not crush it. You’re making me feel frustrated that I did not achieve such great heights.

 

[00:26:07] Heidi: Well, few, few can. What can I say? Okay. Emily, what are you working on this week besides coping with your jealousy? Well,

 

[00:26:19] Emily: you did order me stamps, so I’m counting that as something got done on my list. And I am working on the hearts for the heart attacks because it’s Always better for me when I can write them in advance instead of doing it in a hurry on Valentine’s Day..

 

[00:26:32] Heidi: To wrap up the show, we are sharing our nice list. Emily, what made it on your nice list this week?

 

[00:26:36] Emily: My Ember mug. So I bought this like a year ago with Christmas gift cards after Christmas. So I’ve had it about a year now and it is a mug that keeps your drink to a set temperature. I use this every morning.

 

I like a hot drink to start the day and I usually don’t drink it fast enough. So either I burn myself cause I drink it too early, you know, it’s just really hard and then it quickly gets so cold once it finally gets to the temperature you want.

 

So this is like a teeny tiny thing that I, and it’s expensive, which is why. Like I haven’t shouted it from the rooftops up until now, but now that I’ve used it every day for a year, I feel like it’s definitely worth the investment if you drink something hot most days. And it’s good to know. And it’s one of those things that like, if you use it that often, it’s not that expensive really.

 

And if it brings a little happy joy to your day, it’s worth it. So. My ember mug is on my nice list. Well, anything that can make the morning suck a little less.

 

[00:27:31] Heidi: Yes. Oh, it’s rough. What is on your nice list, Heidi? Well, I think I’ve got the same vibes as you. I’m giving it’s cold this week. It is. I put fine cocoa on my nice list.

 

It’s fine. F I J N. Obviously. Yes. Of course so this is cocoa that has collagen in it, so you get eight grams of protein.

 

[00:27:55] Emily: Sweet.

 

[00:27:56] Heidi: And it’s pretty, it’s pretty good cocoa mix. I mean, I would give it a B plus. It’s not like your A plus stuff, but it’s still pretty good. And to get that much protein out of just a happy, cozy, yummy beverage, like that’s a win win all around.

 

For sure. I’m going to check that out. Yeah, we will put links to all of that in the show notes if you want to check it out too. That is it for today’s episode. Get started on your Valentine plans and don’t forget our get ahead tip to start planning your playlists.