This time of year is one of my favorites to stock up during. Many of the goodies on sale make great gifts in the form of craft/art baskets. In addition gifts if you have a school aged child their teacher is likely to need more supplies about half way through the year when they are full price so having a few extras never hurts and there is an ever growing need for supplies because so many aren't savvy shoppers like us and can't afford the lists. So whenever there are really cheap items I get the max and find a school supply drive, in fact the farmers market I attend at Cagan Crossings is hosting a supply drive on Sept. 6th

So here are some cant miss supply sales I saw in the paper today.

Walgreens is one of my favorite spots for sales on the small stuff.
Backpacks. 3.99. These aren't top quality but are great containers for artsy gifts
Folders and Memo books. 6/$1
Papermate pens or pencils .29 in my experience one can never have too many of either of these and with my sons supply list asking for 6 dozen I guess they are a hot commodity at school too.
You'll need your card and the coupon in the paper for these deals
Wexford erasers (cap and pink) 4/$1 both types are always on the list here
Wexford dry erase markers .99 this is a good price if you need

Staples my favorite place for cheap deals
Filler paper .01 this requires a $5 purchase but that's easy enough to get to
Hammermill copy paper $1 after rebate
4pk dry erase markers $1
Pentel RSVP pens. Free after rebate

Target
Crayola 10pk markers $1
Index cards 3x5 .50
Colored pencils .50
Pencil Box .50

Walmart
Notebooks .17
10pk pens .97
Composition books .50

ToysRUs is still running its free lunchbox (up to $9.99) with the purchase of a backpack priced $12.99 or higher. This is one of my favorite deals and I recommend doing it twice per child we usually do one with characters and one plain that way when he rips his backpack apart due to dragging around school and the bus for 5 months and lunchbox is abused beyond belief I've got replacements that didnt cost me an arm and a leg.

There are lots of other good deals in the ads, but these are the ones that jumped out at me based on the needs of a third grader. Please leave me a comment with any great deals you've found this week.