Entertainment | Celebrity

Shakira hosts shower for underprivileged kids

Pregnant singer invites friends to give baby shower gifts to benefit underprivileged children in virtual baby shower

AP
Published: 14:32 January 17, 2013

Image Credit: AP
In this undated photo provided by UNICEF, Columbian born singer Shakira poses while pregnant. World-famous singer-songwriter and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Shakira and FC Barcelona star Gerard Piqué are inviting friends and fans today to join their online baby shower, on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in support of the world's most vulnerable babies. At the baby shower, inspired gifts cost as little as $5, which can buy a mosquito net to ensure a sleeping child stays safe from malaria, one of the leading causes of child death worldwide. For $10 guests can buy polio vaccines to protect 17 children from contracting this incurable viral infection, while $37 purchases a baby-weighing scale to monitor growth in the first critical years of life. (AP Photo)

What does the baby of the world's most famous Latin American singer need? Nothing, apparently.

Expectant parents Shakira and soccer star Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona are inviting friends and family to join an online baby shower to benefit underprivileged children. Their own child is expected to be born early this year.

A UNICEF-hosted web site invites those attending the virtual baby shower to buy gifts costing as little as $5, which can buy a mosquito net to ensure a sleeping baby stays safe from malaria - a leading cause of child deaths worldwide. Guests can spend $10 for polio vaccines to protect 17 children, or $37 for a baby scale.

"To celebrate the arrival of our first child, we hope that, in his name, other less privileged children in the world can have their basic needs covered through gifts and donations," reads a message from the 35-year-old Colombian superstar, a goodwill ambassador for the UN children's agency, and Pique. "Thank you for sharing this unforgettable moment with us."

The site also features never-seen photos of the couple, taken in December.

In a black-and-white image, a shirtless, 25-year-old Pique poses with his right arm around a hugely pregnant Sharika, who wears a bikini top and hip-hugging skirt that shows off her exposed belly.

A second photograph shows her in a white full-length gown that accentuates her expanding torso.