I am working on a Lubuntu based Live CD as a demo system for the software that we're selling.
I am using http://remastersys.com to create the Live CD/DVD image from a running system. Creating it is trivial.
Using http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ you can create a bootable USB stick, including a persistent area for the .bitcoin folder with wallet.
You could also create a VirtualBox image, and use that.

My mother would not touch it, but my wife probably would.