Should You Keep Gifts From Your Ex?

I’m sitting at work and I look up to find a teddy bear I received one Valentine’s Day from a then boyfriend. We’re not together now and haven’t spoken in a very long time. This got me to thinking, what’s the proper etiquette for moving on to the next? Is it okay to keep momentous from a past love even if you have moved on to someone new?

The type of things I’m referring to are gifts. Valentines Day gifts, pieces of jewelry from anniversary, birthday gifts and things of that nature. Speaking from a personal standpoint I believe that it depends on the gift and my new partner. I feel that if the gift is something that reminds me of the previous parson, I should let it go. I’m the type of person that likes to move forward, not back. Teddy bears, clothing items, anything containing hearts and “I love you’s” gotta go. Even if my new significant other wasn’t bothered by it, I feel like its a respect thing and if he was holding on to old Valentine’s Day gifts from some ex girlfriend I’d honestly feel some kind of way about it. I’m not sure if it could be considered insecurity or not but if my boyfriend had gifts from an ex all over the house, I’d wonder what the sentimental value was and his reasoning for holding on. Doesn’t mean I’d ask him to throw it away, but I’d have every right to be curious. 

Expensive gifts and/or gifts for birthdays and other “non-love” related events, I can see keeping. I would never make my boyfriend throw out an expensive piece of jewelry, I don’t care who it’s from! Cheap momentous of love though, he can throw out. I wouldn’t make him, but I’d definitely ask him why he kept it. 

The only real way that I would keep a gift from a past love, other than it being expensive is if that person really held a special place in my heart far beyond us just being in a relationship. I’m talking about someone who passed away, someone who was with me through the tough parts of life, someone I’m still friends with and things of that nature. Even then, I’d still be respectful enough to my current partner to let them know who the items are from and why the items are so important to me. Any good person would understand the reasoning.

So what do you think? Should you keep gifts from a former flame or throw them out once you’ve moved on?