EDITORIAL: The best time for school shopping is this weekend

Jul. 30—If you have back-to-school shopping to do, this is the weekend to do it.

Sales tax-free weekend West Virginia is bringing back the sales tax-free weekend for school supplies, starting Friday and running through 11:59 p.m. Monday. For that window of time, select types of clothes and school supplies will be exempt from the 6 % sales tax (7 % in municipalities), making this the perfect weekend to get your back-to-school shopping done.

Here's a brief list of what qualifies for the tax exemption:

— Certain clothing with a purchase price of $125 or less — Certain school supplies with a purchase price of $50 or less — Certain school instruction material with a purchase price of $20 or less — Certain laptop and tablet computers with a purchase price of $500 or less — Certain sports equipment with a purchase price of $150 or less A couple things to keep in mind: The price thresholds above apply to individual items, not the entire cart ; there are some exceptions within the categories (e.g., for clothes, scarves qualify but jewelry does not); and if you are buying from an online vendor located in a different time zone, the vendor's time zone determines eligibility (e.g., ordering at 12:30 a.m. Friday from a vendor in California would make the purchase time 9:30 p.m. Thursday, and therefore outside the tax-free window). For all the specifics, including what is /is not covered and frequently asked questions, visit https://tax.wv.gov /Business /Pages /SalesTaxHoliday.aspx.

Back to School Bash On Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Pantry Plus More will be holding its seventh annual Back to School Bash at the Mon County Center out at Mylan Park.

At the Back to School Bash, any Monongalia County student from pre-K to 12th grade can come get select school supplies for free, including notebooks, loose leaf paper, writing utensils, backpacks and hygiene products like bodywashes, toothbrushes and toothpaste. The event is also in need of volunteers. If you're interested, check out the Pantry Plus More Facebook page or its website pantryplusmore.org.

Many of us have fond memories of school shopping: picking the coolest backpacks, notebooks with trendy designs, top-tier mechanical pencils and lunchboxes with our favorite characters. But some of us don't remember those days as fondly: getting the cheapest or simplest of everything—or showing up on the first day and waiting for the teacher to hand over the plainest notebook and pencil.

The event is designed to let kids from low-income families not only have access to the same items as their more financially stable peers, but also the ability to choose the items they want, so that they can get excited to go back to school come August. And so, years from now, they can remember back-to-school shopping with a smile.