Get a Canon or a Nikon. I wouldn't bother with anything else honestly.
I used to have a Canon Elph, but now I have a Canon Digital S2 lS and it's wonderful. It has a 12x optical zoom (disregard any camera that advertises digital zoom - it's virtually useless; optical is the only number that matters).
Mine was nearly 500 dollars and well worth it. I would recommend the Canon SD450 for someone who wants to point and click and get good quality pictures.
http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/con...&modelid=11939
You can find it online for under 300