I was looking at a higher price range for my mate the other day (not really sure about price comparison with the states but this is around the £190 mark)... The Powershot SD870 or derivative (ie previous model - SD800) seemed to be a pretty good cam with the IS.  But having said that i think Bruce's point ,that pretty much any manufacturer and model is going to deliver a good shot these days if you just press the button, is very valid - the SD870 seemed to be a lot of bells and whistles for me and i gave her the advice Vera just gave to you.  Shop around and i'm sure she wont be disappointed. Write down the things which you want out of the camera: IS, Face recognition, 3x optical etc etc, in a priorities list and just have a look to see which tick the boxes from top to bottom within the price range.

Also, everything works with rechargeable batteries if they take normal AA batteries... the thing is tho you need to get good rechargeable batteries.  Look at the AmH rating on the rechargeable - if it is anything less than 2000 dont even consider buying them...infact, i would fork out for the highest you can find... i think it goes up to somewhere near the 2500 mark, tho if anyone knows different i would love to know - havent bought rechargeable AA's in a while.

"In every colour, there's the light.
In every stone sleeps a crystal.
Remember the Shaman, when he used to say:
Man is the dream of the Dolphin"

Rich Meadows Photography