Best way to take Santa photos at mall without bouncing

I'm going to try find a mall (or similar) Santa where they will allow me to take photos with my own camera. I imagine most mall Santas will be in an environment where there won't be any walls to bounce off of so I'm wondering if there is anything else I can do aside from aiming the flash right at Santa.

The only thing I can think of is a big huge card mounted to my flash for bounce.

a wireless flash trigger perhaps?

Either a softbox or umbrella off camera directly above you or one of those smaller shoe mount softboxes.

Google for "better bounce card"