Camera for mom

hello,

I am looking for a camera for my mom for Christmas. she would be using the camera for kids birthdays, indoor/outdoors, night/day, vacations, etc. she is looking to spend 200-300. I think she would want something compact also. Any advice would be helpful.

In that price range you have lots of options. My recommendation would be a pocket superzoom like the Canon PowerShot SD4500 IS I just reviewed, the Panasonic ZS7, Nikon Coolpix S8100 or another comparable camera. These cameras all have 10x or longer zoom lenses but they will still fit in a pocket. Do you have a brand preference? How experienced a photographer is your mother? Is she a pure point-and-shoot photographer or will she want more control?

The SD4500 has a narrow lens, starting at 36mm. Otherwise, it is a great camera.
A good alternative could be Canon's SD4000 - better performance in low light conditions and a wider lens, but only x4 zoom instead of x10.
Take a look at Sony's WX5 - another ultra compact with good low light performance,
and many features designed to make it fully automatic in every possible situation.
Merry Xmas!