REI and other stores start deeply discounting their ski stock right now. If you know what you want, you can get killer deals on ebay too. For kids gear, you don't want to spend a lot because they'll outgrow their gear frequently. We bought kids gear from this place for this season: myskigarage.com - At the beginning of next season, I should be able to get almost exactly what I paid for that gear on ksl classifieds. I would avoid season rentals because of this. You can basically get skis almost rent free by buying used and reselling the next year.