Please excuse the rant, but I have to get this off my chest before I say something I shouldn't to my partner about his parents.

We're expecting our first baby in a month. When we announced the news to our families, his parents seemed really pleased (this will be their first grandchild), while my parents took it in stride (their 3d grandkid). In the following weeks my dad told me they wanted to get us a stroller/travel set for a Christmas/baby gift, since my sister would be handing down one of the cribs they had bought as a gift for her kids. My mom and sister have accompanied me on baby shopping trips to give advice on what we will really need. My cousins (all much older than myself) have all called or messaged with advice and funny baby stories. Everyone has been wonderfully supportive. Mom and sister even got us a lovely bedding set and pooled their supermarket club points to get an Ikea gift card to use for the nursery as Christmas gifts. The only thing my boyfriend's parents have offered to do is give him a few of his younger brother's baby clothes. Not that I'm against hand-me-downs, but 1. my partner refused them without telling me (I found out from his mom much later) 2. his brother is 25, and the much younger third of 3 boys, so not exactly recent stuff and 3. we don't know the sex of the baby, but I strongly suspect girl. This offer was repeated to me during Christmas lunch with them, and I diplomatically suggested we wait and see what we really need once baby is born, as our house is small and we'd like to keep it simple at least while baby is small (all true). Still, I am perplexed. It's not the lack of "gift" that gets me, they certainly aren't obligated to get anything for the baby, so much as a persistent stinginess (material or otherwise) which I know has often left my partner feeling disappointed. For example, last year when we were renovating we needed someone to open up for the electrician a couple of times while we were at work. My parents ended up doing it every time, although his parents live closer and are both retired. At the same time, they have no problem asking for ridiculous favors and errands, which we often end up doing because I was raised to believe we should help family whenever reasonably possible. I know every family is different, but I can tell my boyfriend notices how much more involved and giving my family is with each other, and is sort of embarrassed by it. Ugh! Am I petty for being upset about this?