This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio. The table below does not reflect any fees and expenses imposed under the variable life insurance policies and variable annuity contracts (collectively, Policies) through which this Portfolio is offered. See the Policy prospectus for a description of those fees and expenses.

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]

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Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

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Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)

Portfolio Turnover [Heading]

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Portfolio Turnover

Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]

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The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual portfolio operating expenses or in the example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was

% of the average value of its portfolio.

Portfolio Turnover, Rate

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29.00%

Expense Example [Heading]

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Example

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

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This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the shares of the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other portfolios. This example does not reflect any fees and expenses imposed under the Policies.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the shares of the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs are the same for each time period if you continue to hold your shares or if you redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:

Strategy [Heading]

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Principal Investment Strategies

Strategy Narrative [Text Block]

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Ivy VIP Growth seeks to achieve its objective by investing primarily in a portfolio of common stocks issued by large-capitalization, growth-oriented companies that Ivy Investment Management Company (IICO), the Portfolio’s investment manager, believes have a competitively advantaged business model, thereby eluding competition, and have the ability to sustain growth over the long term beyond investors’ expectations. Large-capitalization companies typically are companies with market capitalizations of at least $10 billion at the time of acquisition. Growth-oriented companies are those whose earnings IICO believes are likely to grow faster than the economy. The Portfolio is non-diversified, meaning that it may invest a significant portion of its total assets in a limited number of issuers.

In selecting securities for the Portfolio, IICO begins its investment process by screening large-capitalization companies based on profitability (capital returns and margins) and growth (sales and earnings), while simultaneously utilizing fundamental analysis to assess any unique business attributes that validate those financial characteristics. IICO uses a bottom-up (researching individual issuers) strategy in selecting securities for the Portfolio. IICO seeks to invest for the Portfolio in companies that it believes possess a structural competitive advantage or durable market leadership position. IICO looks for companies which serve large addressable markets with a demonstrated ability to sustain unit growth and high profitability. IICO also seeks to invest in companies that it believes have improving growth prospects or improving levels of profitability and returns.

A competitively advantaged business model can be defined by such factors as: brand loyalty, proprietary technology, cost structure, scale, exclusive access to data, or distribution advantages. Other factors considered include strength of management; ESG characteristics; level of competitive intensity; return of capital; strong balance sheets and cash flows; the threat of substitute products; and the interaction and bargaining power between a company, its customers, suppliers, and competitors. IICO’s process for selecting stocks is based primarily on fundamental research, but does utilize quantitative analysis during the screening process.

From a quantitative standpoint, IICO concentrates on the level of profitability, capital intensity, cash flow and capital allocation measures, as well as earnings growth rates and valuations. IICO’s fundamental research effort tries to identify those companies that it believes possess a sustainable competitive advantage, an important characteristic which typically enables a company to generate above-average levels of profitability and the ability to sustain growth over the long term. The Portfolio typically holds a limited number of stocks (generally 35 to 50).

Many of the companies in which the Portfolio may invest have diverse operations, with products or services in foreign markets. Therefore, the Portfolio may have indirect exposure to various foreign markets through investments in these companies, even if the Portfolio is not invested directly in such markets.

In general, IICO may sell a security when, in IICO’s opinion, a company experiences deterioration in its growth and/or profitability characteristics, or a fundamental breakdown of its sustainable competitive advantages. IICO also may sell a security if it believes that the security no longer presents sufficient appreciation potential; this may be caused by, or be an effect of, changes in the industry or sector of the issuer, loss by the company of its competitive position, poor execution by management, the threat of technological disruption and/or poor use of resources. IICO also may sell a security to reduce the Portfolio’s holding in that security, to take advantage of what it believes are more attractive investment

opportunities

or to raise cash.

Risk [Heading]

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Principal Investment Risks

Risk Narrative [Text Block]

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As with any mutual fund, the value of the Portfolio’s shares will change, and you could lose money on your investment. The Portfolio is not intended as a complete investment program.

A variety of factors can affect the investment performance of the Portfolio and prevent it from achieving its objective. These include:

■	Company Risk. A company may be more volatile or perform worse than the overall market due to specific factors, such as adverse changes to its business or investor perceptions about the company.

■

Foreign Exposure Risk.

The securities of many companies may have significant exposure to foreign markets as a result of the company’s operations, products or services in those foreign markets. As a result, a company’s domicile and/or the markets in which the company’s securities trade may not be fully reflective of its sources of revenue. Such securities would be subject to some of the same risks as an investment in foreign securities, including the risk that political and economic events unique to a country or region will adversely affect those markets in which the company’s products or services are sold.

■	Growth Stock Risk. Prices of growth stocks may be more sensitive to changes in current or expected earnings than the prices of other stocks. Growth stocks may be more volatile or not perform as well as value stocks or the stock market in general.

■

Holdings Risk.

The Portfolio typically holds a limited number of stocks (generally 35 to 50). As a result, the appreciation or depreciation of any one security held by the Portfolio may have a greater impact on the Portfolio’s NAV than it would if the Portfolio invested in a larger number of securities.

■

Information Technology Sector Risk.

Investment risks associated with investing in the information technology sector, in addition to other risks, include the intense competition to which information technology companies may be subject; the dramatic and often unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for qualified personnel among information technology companies; effects on profitability from being heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights and the loss or impairment of those rights; obsolescence of existing technology; general economic conditions; and government regulation.

■

Large Company Risk.

Large-capitalization companies may go in and out of favor based on market and economic conditions. Large-capitalization companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges, such as changes in technology, and also may not be able to attain the high growth rate of successful smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion. Although the securities of larger companies may be less volatile than those of companies with smaller market capitalizations, returns on investments in securities of large-capitalization companies could trail the returns on investments in securities of smaller companies.

■	Management Risk. Portfolio performance is primarily dependent on IICO's skill in evaluating and managing the Portfolio’s holdings. There can be no guarantee that its decisions will produce the desired results, and the Portfolio may not perform as well as other similar mutual funds .

■

Market Risk.

Markets can be volatile, and stock prices change daily, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. As a result, the Portfolio’s holdings can decline in response to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market or economic developments or conditions that may cause a broad market decline. Different parts of the market, including different sectors and different types of securities, can react differently to these developments. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. During a general downturn in the financial markets, multiple asset classes may decline in value. When markets perform well, there can be no assurance that specific investments held by the Portfolio will rise in value. At times, the Portfolio may hold a relatively high percentage of its assets in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Portfolio to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector. Additionally, global economies and financial markets are becoming increasingly interconnected, meaning that conditions in one country or region may adversely affect issuers in another country or region, which in turn may adversely affect securities held by the Portfolio. In addition, certain events, such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, war, regional or global instability and other geopolitical events, have led, and may in the future lead, to increased short-term market volatility and may have adverse long-term effects on world economies and markets generally.

■

Non-Diversification Risk

. The Portfolio is a “non-diversified” mutual fund and, as such, its investments are not required to meet certain diversification requirements under federal law. Compared with “diversified” funds, the Portfolio may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of an issuer. Thus, the Portfolio may hold fewer securities than other funds. A decline in the value of those investments would cause the Portfolio’s overall value to decline to a greater degree than if the Portfolio held more diversified holdings.

■

Sector Risk.

At times, the Portfolio may have a significant portion of its assets invested in securities of companies conducting business in a broadly related group of industries within an economic sector. Individual sectors may be more volatile, and may perform differently, than the broader market. Companies in the same economic sector may be similarly affected by economic or market events, making the Portfolio more vulnerable to unfavorable developments in that economic sector than funds that invest more broadly.

Risk Lose Money [Text]

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As with any mutual fund, the value of the Portfolio’s shares will change, and you could lose money on your investment.

Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]

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Performance

Performance Narrative [Text Block]

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The chart and table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The chart shows how performance has varied from year to year for Class II shares of the Portfolio. The table shows the average annual total returns for Class II shares of the Portfolio and also compares the Portfolio’s returns with those of a broad-based securities market index and a Morningstar peer group (comprised of a universe of mutual funds with investment objectives similar to that of the Portfolio). The performance results do not reflect any Policy-related fees and expenses, which would reduce the performance results.

Performance results include the effect of expense reduction arrangements for some or all of the periods shown. If those arrangements had not been in place, the performance results for those periods would have been lower.

Prior to April 30, 2012, the Portfolio’s investment objective was to seek capital growth, with current income as a secondary objective. Effective as of April 30, 2012, the Portfolio changed its investment objective to seeking to provide growth of capital.

The Portfolio’s past performance does not necessarily indicate

how

it will perform in the future. Current performance may be lower or higher. Please call (888) 923-3355 for the Portfolio’s updated performance.

Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]

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Performance Availability Phone [Text]

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(888) 923-3355

Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]

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The Portfolio’s past performance does not necessarily indicate how it will perform in the future.

Bar Chart [Heading]

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Chart of Year-by-Year Returns as of December 31 each year

Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text]

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The performance results do not reflect any Policy-related fees and expenses, which would reduce the performance results.

Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]

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In the period shown in the chart, the highest quarterly return was 25.41% (the second quarter of 2020) and the lowest quarterly return was -14.69% (the fourth quarter of 2018).

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Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2020

Ivy VIP Growth | Class II

Risk/Return:

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Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

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Management Fees

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0.70%

Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees